Super-mum leads the way for kiwis at Ironman World Championship

Christchurch mother Gina Crawford climaxed an outstanding comeback season with seventh placing at the Ironman World Championships in gruelling conditions in Hawaii yesterday.

Crawford returned to competitive Ironman racing at the start of the year following the birth of her son Benjii, sealing her comeback with her best ever performance in arguably the world’s toughest one-day endurance test.

The fierce trade winds added to the test with the extreme temperatures on the Big Island added with Crawford seventh in 9:28.54 to lead the way for the New Zealanders.

Seven time Ironman New Zealand champion Joanna Lawn finished 21st while Cameron Brown was forced out with illness.

The 40-year-old, a 10 time Ironman New Zealand winner, was unable to start after suffering from breathing difficulties.

“I've been suffering from the VOG (volcanic fumes) from the volcano here on the Big Island,” Brown said. “A lot of people have sore throats and allergies and I'm one of them. My whole family is coughing and have scratchy throats and I was hoping it would come right very quickly.”

However this morning Brown was unable to breathe freely and was forced to withdraw from the race.
Crawford was third out of the water in 55.59s, remaining in the top 10 with a solid 5h21m30s effort for the 180km cycle where the riders were most challenged with the strong winds.

Her 3:06.16 marathon run was the fifth fastest which saw her push up to seventh, beating the eighth placing she achieved in 2008 and picking up more than $17,000 prizemoney in the process.

Great Britain’s Leanda Cave celebrated the double winning her first Ironman title just five weeks after winning the Ironman 70.3 world championship in Las Vegas.

She finished a minute clear of Australian-based Swiss athlete Caroline Steffen with 2010 winner Mirinda Carfrae (Australia) third.

Sydneysider Pete Jacobs took out the men’s honours, the sixth straight year that an Australian has won the Ironman world championship.

While defending champion Craig Alexander and three-time winner Chris MacCormack were favourites to lead the Australian charge, it was Jacobs who produced the perfect performance. He was third fastest in the 3.8km swim, second fastest bike spilt to be second overall behind ironman New Zealand winner Marino Vanhoenaker (BEL) after the 180km cycle and his 2:48.05 marathon was the third fastest on the day.

He finished five minutes clear of last year’s runner-up Andreas Raelert (Germany) and Fred Van Lierde (Belgium). On a testing day with the strong winds, German-based athletes filled four of the top six placings.

A full round-up of New Zealand age group performances will be sent shortly.

Ironman World Championship results (3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.2km run):
Elite women: Leanda Cave (GBR) 9:15.54, 1; Caroline Steffen (SUI) 9:16.58, 2; Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 9:21.41, 3. Also New Zealanders: Gina Crawford 9:28.54, 7; Joanna Lawn 9:55.11, 21.

Elite men: Pete Jacobs (AUS) 8:18.37, 1; Andreas Raelert (GER) 8:23.40, 2; Fred Van Lierde (BEL) 8:24.09, 3.

PHOTO: Gina Crawford in action on the bike yesterday in Hawaii.  Credit: Delly Carr