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Pro Start List Women:

19 Gossage Lucy WPRO GBR (Great Britain)
20 Forshaw Amy WPRO GBR (United Kingdom)
21 Abraham Corinne WPRO GBR (Great Britain)
22 Carritt Joanna WPRO GBR (Great Britain)
24 Candrova Jana WPRO CZE ( Czech Republic)
27 Haresign Eleanor WPRO GBR (United Kingdom)
28 Hector Alice WPRO GBR (Great Britain)
30 Jensen Anne WPRO DNK (Denmark)
31 King Kathryn WPRO GBR (United Kingdom)
32 Li Shiao-Yu WPRO TWN (Taiwan)
33 Livesey Caroline WPRO GBR (United Kingdom)
34 Richards Suzie WPRO GBR (United Kingdom)
35 Riesler Diana WPRO DEU (Germany)
36 Tanaka Keiko WPRO JPN (Japan)
37 Vesterby Michelle WPRO DNK (Denmark)

IRONKIDS Marks the start of IRONMAN UK weekend

A record 2,500 budding stars of the future took to Bolton town centre in the sunshine this morning to mark the start of IRONMAN UK weekend.

This ‘fun run’ event, which is open to children aged 3- 14, was initiated by IRONMAN and Bolton Council in 2012 and has gone from strength to strength, having tripled its entries to a now 2,500 sell out.

IRONKIDS is all about encouraging kids to lead a healthy, active lifestyle and Bolton Council’s partnership with the event enables a subsidised entry, with a view to motivate as many children as possible of all levels of ability to take part.

The 3-5 year olds ran 500m (accompanied by a parent/guardian), 6-10 year olds 1km, 11- 13 year olds 1.5km and the 14 year olds ran a 2.5km race. The largest field of entry was the 6-10 year olds with 1421 entries, with many competing from local schools, clubs either as groups or individually with some also using the event as a way to raise funds for worthy charities.

All of the children finished under the iconic IRONMAN finish arch, with each child receiving a special commemorative IRONKIDS t-shirt and a medal after completing the race to celebrate their achievement.

Kevin Stewart, Managing Director of IRONMAN UK said, “IRONKIDS is a fantastic start to the weekend’s racing and it’s great to see so many children and their families here supporting the event. This is a perfect opportunity for kids to get into sport at an early age and we couldn’t achieve this without the support of Bolton Council.”

Many of the IRONKIDS have parents participating in IRONMAN UK tomorrow which gets underway at 5.55 am at Pennington Flash when over 2,200 athletes from more than 35 countries around the globe will compete in the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run. The first male Pro athlete is expected to achieve this in just over 8.5 hours, crossing the finish line from approximately 14:35 with others aged 18 - 71 finishing right up to the 17 hour cut off at 11pm.

The weather is drizzly, it's a very cloudy morning.

3 minutes to the start for the pro field!

We still have some rain here at Pennington Flash.

Dennis Chevrot is setting the pace at the front of a group of four. Fraser Cartmell is in this group, David Dellow and David Mcnamee

Top 10 Men Swim 1st Lap:

1 8 Chevrot, Denis (FRA) PRO Team LeWatt 00:23:52
2 2 Cartmell, Fraser (GBR) PRO Stirling Triathlo... +00:05 00:23:57
3 11 Dellow, David (AUS) PRO Red Dog Training +00:05 00:23:57
4 6 McNamee, David (GBR) PRO +00:07 00:23:59
5 5 Simon, Oliver (GBR) PRO Team NBCC/Five fr... +01:22 00:25:14
6 4 Skipper, Joe (GBR) PRO +03:48 00:27:40
7 10 Del Corral Morales, Victor (ESP) PRO TriActiv Lanzarot... +03:48 00:27:40
8 13 Shinozaki, Yu (JPN) PRO MTC +03:48 00:27:40
9 14 Williams, Brad (USA) PRO Team RWB +03:50 00:27:42
10 9 Clark, Sam (NZL) PRO +03:58 00:27:50

Top 10 Women Swim 1st Lap:

1 192 Charles, Lucy (GBR) 18 Hoddesdon Tri Clu... 00:25:16
2 37 Vesterby, Michelle (DEN) PRO TRI +01:30 00:26:46
3 36 Tanaka, Keiko (JPN) PRO +01:32 00:26:48
4 128 comber, kate (GBR) 25 Bike Science and ... +01:48 00:27:04
5 28 Hector, Alice (GBR) PRO Evo +02:27 00:27:43
6 254 Hallam, Rachel (GBR) 30 Corley cycles 02:42 00:27:58
7 19 Gossage, Lucy (GBR) PRO cambridge tri clu... +03:36 00:28:52
8 197 Hayward, Francesca (GBR) 18 Swansea Universit... +03:36 00:28:52
9 27 Haresign, Eleanor (GBR) PRO Torq Tri Team +03:37 00:28:53
10 320 Woollacott, Lucy (GBR) 35 TriDubai +03:38 00:28:54

Michelle Vesterby leads the women's pro race after the swim in 54:57. She is 5 seconds ahead of Keiko Tanaka

Age group athlete Lucy Charles had a sensational swim: 50:45. She was more than 4 minutes faster in the water than the best pro women.

It's still raining - a bit harder now.

Top 20 Women Swim Exit:

1 192 Charles, Lucy (GBR) 18 Hoddesdon Tri Clu... +00:00 00:50:45
2 128 comber, kate (GBR) 25 Bike Science and ... +04:12 00:54:57
3 37 Vesterby, Michelle (DEN) PRO TRI +04:12 00:54:57
4 36 Tanaka, Keiko (JPN) PRO +04:17 00:55:02
5 28 Hector, Alice (GBR) PRO Evo +06:04 00:56:49
6 254 Hallam, Rachel (GBR) 30 Corley cycles +06:38 00:57:23
7 27 Haresign, Eleanor (GBR) PRO Torq Tri Team +08:26 00:59:11
8 19 Gossage, Lucy (GBR) PRO cambridge tri clu... +08:26 00:59:11
9 320 Woollacott, Lucy (GBR) 35 TriDubai +08:34 00:59:19
10 269 Griggs, Jo (GBR) 30 +09:26 01:00:11
11 197 Hayward, Francesca (GBR) 18 Swansea Universit... +09:41 01:00:26
12 33 Livesey, Caroline (GBR) PRO +10:18 01:01:03
13 2200 Pollock, Anna (GBR) WHC +10:19 01:01:04
14 34 Richards, Suzie (GBR) PRO Leeds Bradford Tr... +12:38 01:03:23
15 385 Labrianidis, Catherine (GBR) 40 VP Race Team +12:40 01:03:25
16 194 Elliot, Danielle (GBR) 18 +12:56 01:03:41
17 20 Forshaw, Amy (GBR) PRO +12:59 01:03:44
18 22 Carritt, Joanna (GBR) PRO everydaytraining +13:17 01:04:02
19 32 Li, Shiao-Yu (TPE) PRO +15:04 01:05:49
20 291 Griffin, Pauline (IRL) 30 Manchester Triath... +15:04 01:05:49

The bike course:

There is a small change to the IRONMAN UK Bike course for 2015. It starts with a 14 mile point to point cycle from Pennington Flash in Leigh. The course travels via Westhoughton and Horwich before joining a new two lap circuit which starts from Adlington in Lancashire. Travelling anti-clockwise on the loops and taking in 5387ft of climbing the course visits Rivington, Belmont, Abbey Village, Wheelton, then heads north to Brindle and down through Whittle-le-Woods to the north side of Buckshaw Village. Then west to Croston and skirts Mawdesley and Hilldale. A small change for 2015 then takes the course south from Wrightington, left onto Pepper Lane and then north on the A49 to join the old course at Coppul Moor Lane. Adlington marks the start of the second lap, with the bike in towards Horwich just before the Rivington Reservoir, taking athletes through the Crown junction and along Chorley New Road to reach the Macron Stadium and T2.

Keiko Tanaka has opened up a gap of 1:20 on the first 24 km on Michelle Vesterby.

Lucy Gossage is in third place - 1:57 behind Tanaka through 24 km of the bike

David Mcnamee is in the lead. After 69 km of the bike he is 14 seconds in front of Fraser Cartmell.

Lucy Gossage is in the lead. After 52 kilometers she had opened up a gap of 1:25 over Keiko Tanaka.

Time to move for Lucy Gossage: She extended her lead up to a comfortable advantage of 3:49 on Tanaka and 4:32 on Vesterby - now at Km 70

The rain has stopped - and some sunshine appears in Bolton.