Last year's runners-up, 2008 world champion Terenzo Bozzone and six-time winner Jo Lawn confirmed several weeks ago they will take on defending champions Cameron Brown and Gina Crawford on Saturday 6 March.
The men's field also includes the 2007 Ironman Canada champion Kieran Doe, who is battling back from a loss of form last year, and super-talented Counties competitor James Bowstead, runner-up in last month's Port of Tauranga Half Ironman, and talented young Swiss triathlete Stefan Luscher.
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Full male pro list below.
| Name |
Race Number |
Country |
Age Group |
Tri NZ |
| Cameron BROWN |
1 |
New Zealand |
MPro |
|
| Chris WATERHOUSE |
17 |
Australia |
MPro |
|
| James BOWSTEAD |
4 |
New Zealand |
MPro |
Yes |
| Jason CROWTHER |
12 |
Australia |
MPro |
|
| Jim LUBINSKI |
13 |
United States |
MPro |
|
| John CAREY |
11 |
Australia |
MPro |
|
| Jozef VRABEL |
16 |
Slovakia |
MPro |
|
| Keegan WILLIAMS |
18 |
New Zealand |
MPro |
Yes |
| Kieran DOE |
3 |
New Zealand |
MPro |
Yes |
| Marek NEMCIK |
15 |
Slovakia |
MPro |
|
| Rich MUNRO |
14 |
Australia |
MPro |
|
| Stefan LüSCHER |
5 |
Switzerland |
MPro |
|
| Terenzo BOZZONE |
2 |
New Zealand |
MPro |
|
The women's field has plenty of athletes capable of upsetting including 2008 runner-up Kate Bevilaqua (Australia), Kim Loeffler (USA), a three-time US Ironman champion who had two podium finishes last year.
There will be interest in national time trial cycling champion Melissa Holt (Cambridge), chasing a place in the Commonwealth Games, and some more than handy Australians including Ali Fitch, Christie Sym and Sarah Pollett, second and third respectively at Ironman Western Australia, and Great Britain's Joanna Carritt.
Full female pro list below.
| Name |
Race Number |
Country |
Age Group |
Tri NZ |
| Ali FITCH |
21 |
Australia |
FPro |
|
| Britta MARTIN |
22 |
New Zealand |
FPro |
Yes |
| Christie SYM |
25 |
Australia |
FPro |
|
| Gina CRAWFORD |
6 |
New Zealand |
FPro |
Yes |
| Joanna CARRITT |
19 |
United Kingdom |
FPro |
|
| Joanna LAWN |
7 |
New Zealand |
FPro |
Yes |
| Jodie SCOTT |
24 |
Australia |
FPro |
|
| Kate BEVILAQUA |
8 |
Australia |
FPro |
|
| Kim LOEFFLER |
9 |
United States |
FPro |
|
| Meshy HOLT |
10 |
New Zealand |
FPro |
|
| Nicole WARD |
26 |
Australia |
FPro |
|
| Rebecca EVELEIGH |
20 |
Australia |
FPro |
|
| Sarah POLLETT |
23 |
Australia |
FPro |
|
Great to see plenty of Australians made the trip over.
And the support come also as can be seen by this Australian flag.
This image was taken with a very slow shutter speed but I like it because of the colour and movement shown.
This image is not perfect as
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go, go, go.....................
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First professional triathletes approaching the finish.
Not that the pro's started a full 15mins before the age groupers.
The pro field was strung out as the first group were finished in around 46mins, which all
explains why there are not many swimmers in the background. F
Some of the first swimmers out
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Dirk Bockel seen here leading from the front on the bike like he did in Beijing.
The chasing pros can be seen in the background; he did open up a decent gap to the rest of the field by the cycle finish.
Brown said after the race that Bockel really pushed hard for the last 20kms and that would likely have taken a bit of staying power out of him.
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Germany's Jan Raphael working on an uphill section with Cameron Brown not far behind.
The rider behind Brown looks pretty close but the photos can be deceiving.
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Gina Ferguson working hard and thriving on it, by the look of how the race unfolded.
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Richard Ussher
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Duncan Milne was in good form coming into this race, but crashed off the bike. He recently won the NZ half ironman champs ahead of Brown in Tauranga, but Brown did puncture during that race and otherwise would have won.
The graze bleeding on his knee was no doubt the result of the crash and he said he never recovered from it during the race.
Triathlon olympian Dirk Bockel from Luxembourg ended up 3rd at the days end.
Cameron Brown won it with a 2hr 43min run.
Terenzo Bozzone in the current world 70.3 champion and like Bockel was racing over this distance for the first time.
To end up just over 7mins in arrears to the very experienced Brown was great going on ironman debut. like
Bockel
Joanna Lawn looked to be giving it everything in the run.
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Pro Men
1st Cameron Brown ............8:18:04...................N.Z
2nd Terenzo Bozzone..........8:25:36...................N.Z
3rd Dirk Bockel...................8:27:11...................LUX
4th Jan Raphael.................8:32:31...................GER
5th Richard Ussher.............8:35:55...................N.Z
6th Stephen Bayliss............8:38:28..................U.K
7th Mike Neil......................8:44:49.................CAN
8th Shingo Tani..................9:00:13.................JPN
9th Bevan McKinnon............9:01:13.................N.Z
10th Marc Pschebizen..........9:03:01.................GER
'Coast to coast' multisport champion Richard Ussher finished the day in 5th.
He was always trying to make up ground after loosing 10mins to the front swim pack which included Brown.
Last year Ussher swan 6mins faster so maybe swimming without so many others around slowed him down a bit?
Stephen Bayliss has won several ironman events in the past year but 6th was the best he could do today.'s
Canadian Mike Neill looks pleased with his 7th placing.
Shingo Tani placed 8th in 9hrs flat and is looking very spritely at 42 years old. place
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Gina Ferguson(photo below) takes first.
And with the win the IMNZ crown that Joanna lawn has held for the past 6 years. |
Woman
Pro Womans
1st Gina Ferguson.............. 9:18:26.........................N.Z
2nd Joanna Lawn ............... 9:23:07........................N.Z
3rd Charlotte Paul.............. 9:30:24........................AUS
4th Lisbeth Kristensen.........9:32:50........................DEN
5th Bella Bayliss.................9:41:03........................SCO
6th Emi Shiono.................. 9:54:16........................JPN
7th Nicole Ward................. 9:56:03.......................AUS
8th Britta Martin................ 9:56:17........................NZ
9th Jenny Gowans...............9:57:57.......................NZ
10th Bridget Fry................. 9:58:12........................NZ
Charlotte Paul took the coveted 3rd place.
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Ironman NZ 2009 25th Anniversary from 'youtube'
This clip is pretty good quality
To see images of 'IMNZ 2008' click here
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