Marines Ironman World Championship 70.3


  • Welcome to Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, Nevada for the Marines Ironman World Championship 70.3. We're looking forward to a great day of racing here in Vegas - a stacked field is getting ready to take on a challenging course that will provide a hard-earned world championship for our eventual champions tomorrow.

    Here are a few stats for tomorrow's race:
    There are 573 women entered in tomorrow's race and 1,128 men, for a total of 1,701 athletes.

    The largest women's category is 30-34, with 110 athletes. 35-39 has 95.

    The largest men's category is 40-44, with 211. There are 187 in 35-39.

    There are 52 countries represented in the race - after the US (949), Canada has the next largest number of athletes with 109, followed by Australia and Great Britain with 77, then we have Germany with 70.

  • The practice swim on Saturday morning.

  • Our youngest and oldest competitors:
    Youngest:
    Jennifer Alter Downers Grove IL 19
    Jeanni Seymour Johannesburg SA 19
    John Obrien 3 McDonald L TN 19
    Andrew Templeton Albuquerque NM 19
    Wong Tung Fo Tan 19

    Oldest:
    Lew Hollander Bend OR 81
    Bob Scott Naperville IL 81
    Marcos Alegre Seminole FL 76

  • It all starts at registration

  • The support vehicles are ready for tomorrow's race.

  • Getting ready for a ride - a stop by the PowerBar booth never hurts, though.

  • PowerBar is a global sponsor of Ironman

  • Lava Magazine's booth has been a popular stop.

  • Some of the great looking shirts to be found in the merchandise area.

  • There's lots of merchandise perfect for the Ironman fan.

  • When I grow up ...

  • The Ford booth at the expo.

  • Ben Harper from K-Swiss hams it up.

  • A singing welcome to the Carbo dinner.

  • Race director Frank Lowery and Marine Matt Shortal hold a flag that flew in Afghanistan that has been brought here to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

  • Race announcer Whit Raymond.

  • Mat Shortal is a Marine who graduated from the Top Gun program to go on fly an F-18 in Iraq in 2002. He also flew for the famous Blue Angels. He's a three-time Ironman competitor and will be racing here tomorrow.

  • Ironman CEO Andrew Messick speaks to the athletes at the Welcome Dinner.

  • Saturday's press conference.

  • Greg Welch MCs the press conference

  • Saul Raisin, Melissa Rollison, Leanda Cave and Julie Dibens.

  • Julie Dibens, Craig Alexander, Luke Bell and Filip Ospaly.

  • Saul Raisin, Melissa Rollison, Leanda Cave and Jule Dibens at today's press conference.

  • T1

  • Heading in for the practice swim.

  • Lots of athletes took advantage of the chance to check out the swim course this morning.

  • Checking out the Aquasphere suits.

  • The beautiful Loews Lake Las Vegas.

  • Good morning from beautiful Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, Nevada! It's race morning for the Marines Ironman World Championship 70.3 and we can't wait to watch what promises to be an incredible day of racing. The weather conditions this morning appear to be near perfect.

    The temperature right now is a balmy 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 Celsius). The expected high is just 93 F (34 C) - and I can say "just" because we were expecting temperatures to be in the 100s for this race based on the temperatures from a few weeks ago. It doesn't look like it's going to be too windy, either - they are calling for the winds to pick up to about 11 mph (18 kph) out of the East South East.
  • Our live video will be starting in about two minutes or so. Greg Welch and David Erickson will be at the desk, while Michellie Jones will be our roving reporter from out on the course.

  • Greg and Dave at the desk hosting our video coverage.

  • A day for the front runners? One of the things that will be of most interest here today is seeing whether or not the athletes who traditionally win races from the front are able to do that here on this challenging course. On the women's side, Julie Dibens and Leanda Cave both like to blaze through the swim, either increase or solidify their leads on the bike, then maintain their lead through the run. (I was going to say "hang on" through the run, but when you run as fast as they do, it's not really an accurate description.)

    That said, Dibens and Cave will have to hold off some speedy runners if they are going to take the title here today. Before I get too far ahead of myself, though, I should mention they will have to hold off a scary-fast cyclist, too. Karin Thuerig is a two-time Olympic medalist and former world time trial champion who will rip this bike course apart, so we certainly won't be surprised if she ends up first off the bike today.

    On the run we can expect the likes of Magali Tisseyre, a two-time third place finisher at these championships to work her way towards the front, but the woman everyone will fear on the run today is Melissa Rollison, a former steeplechase runner from Australia who has three Ironman 70.3 wins to her credit this year.

    Some other athletes who will likely work their way into the mix today include Linsey Corbin and Heather Wurtele - Wurtele is another front runner who will enjoy the company of Dibens and Cave if she can get to the lead group, while Corbin is another strong cyclist/ runner who will likely work her way into contention later in the day.

    Bottom line ... this is going to be fun!
  • While the women's race has a few athletes who like to lead from the front, on the men's side there's one man who certainly has that rep - Andy Potts. A super-fast swimmer, the word is that Potts didn't have a great day at the Hy-Vee 5i50 event last week, so he's likely to be determined to have a good day today.

    Behind him, though, is a virtual who's who of 70.3 racing. Craig Alexander won the first Ironman 70.3 world championship and looks very fit right now. Chris Lieto likes to hammer through the bike course and will be looking to come off the bike first today. Luke McKenzie likes to do the same. Luke Bell loves this distance and can swim, bike and run with the best of them. Joe Gambles led off the bike at last year's 70.3 worlds - look for him to try to do the same here today. Raynard Tissink is another strong cyclist who has improved on his running this year ...

    There are no-doubt some other names that will end up near the front at some point today - it's going to be a barn-burner!
  • The pro men are off!
  • Potts has gone right to the front of the main group, but there's one swimmer who has chosen to swim way to the left who is swimming really well, too.
  • Someone is swimming virtually stroke-for-stroke with Potts at the front - the two have already opened a bit of a gap on the rest of the group.
  • The women's pro race has now started.
  • Sorry about the race clock - if you hit the refresh button of your browser it will now show the correct race time.
  • The first age group wave has now started. The waves will continue until 8AM this morning. You can check out Lee Gruenfeld's age group men's predictions at ironman.com

    The women's prediction story can be found at ironman.com
  • It looks like Andy Potts has got himself clear as he comes into the turn buoy. he has alead of about five seconds on the second place swimmer, and about 25 seconds over a chase group that has about 15 athletes in it.
  • Around the turn buoy the second turn buoy the lead has grown - almost 10 seconds over the second place swimmer and 30 on the first chase group of 12. About five seconds behind that chase group is another group that's about the same size.
  • In the women's race, Leanda Cave and Julie Dibens are swimming next to each other. Earlier this week Cave was telling us that her swimming has been going really well and warned us that if she felt good she wouldn't sit on her buddy's feet through the swim. She's not doing that today - she's just off to the side.
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