3 athletes of Abu Dhabi Triathlon Team under the best 10 in Hawaii (10.10.2010)

The result in Kailua Kona was a really good one. 3 out of 4 racing athletes placed under top 10. Rachel Joyce was the best one with a not expected 5th place.

For the first time the pros started 30 minutes ahead of the amateurs. The reason was that the fast age groupers affected the elite woman’s race in the past. But that did not happen this year. Rachel Joyce dominated the first hours of this race. She came out of the water 1 minute ahead of the second one and could keep her lead on the first kilometres of the bike course. The Brit Julie Dibens and the Swiss Caroline Steffen where the first ones who overtook Rachel. A group with the later winner Mirinda Carfrae also reached her but she could follow them to the second transition area. With a respectable marathon Rachel could finish as 5^th and improved her 6^th place from last year at here second participation in Hawaii.

Rachel was happy as she crossed the finish line: “That was a perfect finish of a season with up and downs. My preparation in winter worked well but then I injured myself in Abu Dhabi. I could not train for 6 weeks and it took a while to improve my athletic performance. Just before Hawaii an iron deficiency was diagnosed and I was not sure if I could eliminate that. But everything worked well in the end.”

In the man’s race Pete Jacobs was the second one out of the water behind the swim specialist Andy Potts. But just a few seconds behind him a big group entered the transition area. Faris Al-Sultan and Andi Böcherer were in there. It did not take long that the chasers reached the 2 escapees. Then the group went as a big train into the direction of the turnaround in Hawi. Andi was the first one who escaped again from the group and won the spurt at km 60 on the bike course. The first one who would pass that gets 5.000 USD. Andi was the lucky one. But he spent quite some energy doig that. He still finished the bike as 11^th but on the run he suffered for almost 4 hours.

“I felt perfect on the first meters of the bike. So I tried to escape from the group which worked. But it was probably too much and it got tough with the wind and the heat. But I wanted to finish at my 2^nd participation, as I could not do that a few years ago. The 5.000 USD are a great reward, “ Andi analysed the race after the finish line.

As Andi escaped from the group Faris and Pete got a penalty for drafting. So they had to stop at the penalty box. Both of them lost the leading group. Faris pushed hard and it took not that long that he was there again. But Pete was not able to do that and he lost quite some time. As Faris was always under the best 10 Pete arrived in the second transition area as 32^nd. But he still knew that he could do a fast marathon. And it was really fast. In 2:41:05 just 2 athletes were ever faster and that happened 21 years ago. A few meters before the finish line Pete also overtook Faris who slowed down at the end of the run. So Pete finished 9^th and Faris 10^th at the World Championships. The Australian Chris Macormack surprisingly won in front of the German Andi Raelert and the Belgium Marino Vanhoenacker.

After the race Pete was more than happy: “The swim went perfect. But the big group caught me soon. All the athletes were pretty nervous in there and than it happened. I got a penalty for drafting. So the group was lost and a lot of time also. Though I knew that I could run fast the time surprised even me!”

All in all it was a great day for Abu Dhabi Triathlon Team. 3 top 10 places and a spurt win of Andi Böcherer after km 60 on the bike course. Now there is recovery on the schedule of the athletes which the really earn.