How could I neglect to wait until today to post a huge CONGRATULATIONS to Bellevue's own Dr. France Cokan (76) for another age-group victory in Kona on Saturday - way to France, at least you managed to live up to expectations!
Just about everyone else - save Men's overall winner Chris McCormack was dealt a helping of humble pie by Madam Pele. Out before the start were 2005 winner Faris Al-Sultan, with fleet footed Cam Brown and last year's winners Norman Stadler & Michellie Jones dropping out mid-bike - all smitten with a virus. Hell on wheels former winner Thomas Hellriegel also dropped out after the bike. And with Natascha Badmann crashing out on her bike early - the women's race was wide open, while the men's contenders lost a lot of horsepower. There was still a race however.
Not even considered a dark horse contender for the top 10 - Great Britain's Chrissy Wellington's fast bike & sub 3-hour run thrust her up for the 9th fastest Ironman time ever (9:08:45) and on the fast track as a sure favorite in future Ironman competitions with a 5+ minute win over another Iron-rookie Canadian Sam McGlone.
For the men - Macca overcame his own brashness and ticked off a 6-minute pace on the marathon to fast-pass bike speedsters (Chris Lieto, 6th & Torbjorn Sindballe, 3rd). Only fellow Aussie Craig Alexander could make a threat on the run, passing former 2-time winners Tim DeBoom (4th and top American) and course record holder Luc van Lierde (8th), to finish 3 1/2 minutes behind.
Laurent Jalabert finished a respectable 12th in the 35-39 age-group in a time of 9:19:58, good for 76th overall.
Watch all the action on NBC - Saturday December 1st.
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