01/19/10
ironguides Athletes Turn Up Heat in 70.3 South Africa
What a fantastic weekend at Ironman 70.3 South Africa in Buffalo City, the first Ironman 70.3 race in 2010!
Category: results
Posted by: editor
The day started off with a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit), a strong swell and high tide. The latter two ensured that the swim was definitely harder and slower than normal.
ironguides pro athlete Balazs Csoke was with the lead group coming out of the swim (23:18). You could see on the athletes’ faces that they all had worked harder than usual in the water. Natasha Gorie came out in 30:27 and Carin Hume had a great swim at 31:43. Natasha's swim was even more impressive considering that she was involved in an accident on her bike only six weeks earlier.
The temperature started rising and the wind picked up. The course profile suggests that it's all uphill to the turnaround point and then down – trust me when I say that the course is not like that at all. Balazs kept in contact with the leaders but started losing ground at 40km mark on the bike. The girls were doing great and holding their own.
By 10:30am the temperature was a hot 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) and still rising. Balazs finished the bike in 2hrs 32mins, 8mins 20secs behind the leaders. The effects of the heat where evident. Natasha stuck to the race plan of her ironguides coach, blasted the bike course in 2hrs 46mins with a look of determination. Carin rode her heart out and set a negative split by a whopping 16 minutes to finish the bike course in 3hrs 19mins.
Hats off to Balazs and Carin - training in Europe’s winter has not been that easy and so their respective times where awesome compared to the other participants. Balazs had left Switzerland on Wednesday night for South Africa after completing his final run session in a fresh 30cm of snow and temperatures well below freezing.
Going out on the run, Balazs kept a constant pace but looked relaxed. Natasha looked like a woman possessed and Carin looked so fresh you wouldn’t have thought she had just ridden 90km. Balazs started to slow and lose time to the leaders as the heat got to 36 degrees Celsius. Balazs still managed a 4:06/km pace, finishing the race in a solid 7th place with a time of 4:25:42, a great race to start to his race season. Onwards to Ironman South Africa.
Carin ran an impressive 1hr 40mins, finishing strongly in 5:38:32 sec and 8th in her age group.
Natasha reeled in Pro after Pro, ran a 1hr 33mins and crossed the line in 4:55:24. She won the 25-29 age group by 12mins 36secs, was the first female age grouper of the day (all the women started in the same wave) and on time was 8th female overall. ironguides has its first qualifier for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in 2010.
ironguides pro athlete Balazs Csoke was with the lead group coming out of the swim (23:18). You could see on the athletes’ faces that they all had worked harder than usual in the water. Natasha Gorie came out in 30:27 and Carin Hume had a great swim at 31:43. Natasha's swim was even more impressive considering that she was involved in an accident on her bike only six weeks earlier.
The temperature started rising and the wind picked up. The course profile suggests that it's all uphill to the turnaround point and then down – trust me when I say that the course is not like that at all. Balazs kept in contact with the leaders but started losing ground at 40km mark on the bike. The girls were doing great and holding their own.
By 10:30am the temperature was a hot 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) and still rising. Balazs finished the bike in 2hrs 32mins, 8mins 20secs behind the leaders. The effects of the heat where evident. Natasha stuck to the race plan of her ironguides coach, blasted the bike course in 2hrs 46mins with a look of determination. Carin rode her heart out and set a negative split by a whopping 16 minutes to finish the bike course in 3hrs 19mins.
Hats off to Balazs and Carin - training in Europe’s winter has not been that easy and so their respective times where awesome compared to the other participants. Balazs had left Switzerland on Wednesday night for South Africa after completing his final run session in a fresh 30cm of snow and temperatures well below freezing.
Going out on the run, Balazs kept a constant pace but looked relaxed. Natasha looked like a woman possessed and Carin looked so fresh you wouldn’t have thought she had just ridden 90km. Balazs started to slow and lose time to the leaders as the heat got to 36 degrees Celsius. Balazs still managed a 4:06/km pace, finishing the race in a solid 7th place with a time of 4:25:42, a great race to start to his race season. Onwards to Ironman South Africa.
Carin ran an impressive 1hr 40mins, finishing strongly in 5:38:32 sec and 8th in her age group.
Natasha reeled in Pro after Pro, ran a 1hr 33mins and crossed the line in 4:55:24. She won the 25-29 age group by 12mins 36secs, was the first female age grouper of the day (all the women started in the same wave) and on time was 8th female overall. ironguides has its first qualifier for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in 2010.