5 Dec 2017

Vision Athletes Dominate at Ironman Western Australia

Vision athletes had a stellar race weekend at Ironman Western Australia with Terenzo Bozzone taking top spot in Men’s Pro, Cameron Brown just missing the podium clocking the 4th best time for the day and Scott Defilippis rounding them out in with a solid 7th. In the Women's Pro field, Carrie Lester had a superb ride to claim 2nd place in her home country race. Our riders gave us an inside perspective to race day, both Pro Mens and Pro Womens:

Terenzo Bozzone -

“Around the world in 25 days! Last stop was Ironman Western Australia, in Busselton this past weekend where I would be fighting to defend my title from last year.”
 
“After a long trip from Bahrain to Perth and with my body feeling pretty battered from the weekend before race, I was stoked to have my Physio Tawhai here in Perth with me. After hours of massage throughout the week, I felt back to normal and I was ready for the race to hurry up and begin.  It was going to be a pretty hot race with some hot competition like fellow countryman, Cameron Brown and Dougal Allan, and I fighting against the Aussies which included, Tim Van Berkel and Kona bike course record holder Cam Wurf, just to name a few.”
 
“In the lead up to the race the temperatures were very mild - low 20°C - but the forecast for race day was 34°C. To add to the obstacles on race day, there was a shark sighting in the waters we were going to swim through. Officials made the sensible decision to cancel the swim and we were off on 180km bike/42km run. I was last out of the blocks for the pro men and had a strategy to push for 20minutes then settle into my predetermined race plan. I instead went pretty hard from the start and I blame it on my racer mentality and always wanting to push and get 100% out of my body. The thing with Ironman racing is that 100% for the whole race usually isn’t “full gas” from start to finish, you need to be patient out there.”
 
“After riding the first 90km in around 2hrs, the second 90km lap hurt a lot. The heat was picking up and my legs were struggling from the over-usage in the opening stages. The past three weekends of racing and travelling didn’t help much either. A few guys caught up and I had to give everything to hang onto the back and try limit my losses to Allan and Van Berkel. With my whole upper legs almost going into full cramp, I just had to tell myself that maybe, just maybe my running legs would still be okay.”
 
“I got off the bike about 7minutes behind the lead and after struggling to get into my socks and shoes, I filled my race suit up with ice and was off onto the marathon. It was a great course in Busso, where you had to run through the race village 8 times. This kept the adrenaline pumping and by the halfway point, I was passing Allan and moving into the lead. Van Berkel began to fade a couple kilometers earlier, which made for a tough second half of racing  for him. I knew with the heat soring into the mid 30°C anything could happen out there and the body came close a couple times to shutting down. Fortunately, I managed to use my strategies I learned over the years to work through those bad patches and hang onto the lead. It was an unreal feeling defending my title and winning my 2nd Ironman!”
 
“4 races in 21 days, 20 flight sectors, 5 drug tests and a bunch of jetlag, but it was an amazing experience and a very successful trip with 2 race victories – Los Cabos 70.3 and Ironman Western Australia and two close 2nd places – Island House Triathlon and Bahrain 70.3.”

Cameron Brown -

“Yesterday was a first for me, being that the race was shortened to a bike/run due to a 3m shark near the swim course at Bussleton. We were all set to begin and the 70.3 race had started when the organizers started pulling people from the water as soon as the helicopter spotted the shark. The swim leg was cancelled and we were then told to relax until the bike/run race for the 70.3 athletes could take place and then everyone would start some 45mins behind the original start time. The race would now go in a Time Trial format with the top seeds last and the professionals starting every 20 seconds apart. I was the 3rd seed so I would start just in front of Pete Jacobs and eventual winner Terenzo Bozzone.”

“We all started on the beach with athletes running 300m to their bikes and then the 180km bike would get under way. I began normal, but the boys in front of me were setting a fast tempo and I found myself quickly losing time. My first 90km was solid, but soon after that I really struggled and could not push hard at all. I was no longer able to hold 200 watts, with my average through the first lap having been 280 watts. The temperature was creeping up by this stage as well and now over 30°C, coming off the bike I found myself over 25min behind the leaders and I was very close to pulling out. I felt extremely exhausted as I sat in T2 choosing to either start the run or call it a day. I decided to run 5km and see how I felt, but then decided to push it to a full lap. I was slowly making up time on the leaders and also catching a lot of guys in front of me.”

“By the 21km mark, I was 8th and in the top-10, so I was now focused on trying to get a few more spots before the finish line. In the last 10km, I was able to climb to 4th place, which I was ultimately happy with after originally thinking I would not even finish the day. It's always frustrating when things don't go to plan with no swim and a very poor bike ride, but that's racing and perseverance pays off. It's a short break for me then back into training as I prepare for the New Zealand Half Ironman Championships Tauranga in January and then Ironman New Zealand in March.”

Carrie Lester -

"I'm really happy to cap the year off with 2nd place at Ironman Western Australia. The main goal for me was to secure my slot for Kona 2018 so I could have free reign of race choices, but secretly I wanted to end the year with a sub-9 performance and my fastest bike and run split of season.”

“The day changed for us all when the swim was cancelled due to a shark sighting, so that meant a time trial start - straight onto the bike and it was go-time! My wheel choice for this flat fast course was a Vision Metron 55SL front and a Metron Disc wheel on the back and it was FAST! I had been dying to ride this combination all year and it was incredible. Even towards the end of the bike when temperatures were soaring into the mid to high 90°F, I was just rolling along trying to save energy and still rode my fastest bike split ever of 4hr 39min. The run was a slow march to say the least. It just got hotter and hotter and there were not enough opportunities to get my body temperature down. I had to forget about all time splits on the run and just get to the finish line and tick the Kona box, which I did, so I am happy.”

“It was great to see Scott having a good race as well as he finished 7th overall.”

 

  • Terenzo Bozzone
  • Cameron Brown
  • Carrie Lester

Ironman Western Australia
Busselton, Western Australia
December 3, 2017
B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) 7:12:30 T1 1:38 Cycle 4:15:58 T2 1:48 Run 2:53:05
2. Dougal Allan (NZL) 7:18:07 T1 1:47 Cycle 4:12:34 T2 1:53 Run 3:01:51
3. Tim Van Berkel (AUS) 7:27:07 T1 1:49 Cycle 4:13:05 T2 1:43 Run 3:10:29
4. Cameron Brown (NZL) 7:32:22 T1 1:47 Cycle 4:33:46 T2 3:05 Run 2:53:43
5. Jonathan Shearer (AUS) 7:35:32 T1 1:56 Cycle 4:15:50 T2 2:12 Run 3:15:33
6. Konstantin Bachor (GER) 7:39:40 T1 1:40 Cycle 4:10:48 T2 2:15 Run 3:24:56
7. Scott Defilippis (USA) 7:48:26 T1 2:13 Cycle 4:31:29 T2 3:01 Run 3:11:41
8. Levi Hauwert (AUS) 7:49:36 T1 2:03 Cycle 4:41:11 T2 2:01 Run 3:04:20 * M30-34
9. Per Bittner (GER) 7:50:36 T1 1:41 Cycle 4:31:41 T2 2:28 Run 3:14:41
10. Leigh Stabryla (AUS) 7:54:05 T1 2:00 Cycle 4:39:57 T2 2:06 Run 3:10:02

Women

1. Melissa Hauschildt (AUS) 7:52:04 T1 1:54 Cycle 4:37:42 T2 1:41 Run 3:10:46
2. Carrie Lester (AUS) 7:59:07 T1 2:11 Cycle 4:38:43 T2 2:06 Run 3:16:05
3. Camilla Lindholm Borg (SWE) 8:01:59 T1 2:08 Cycle 4:48:20 T2 1:48 Run 3:09:41
4. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 8:11:01 T1 1:47 Cycle 4:45:06 T2 1:47 Run 3:22:19
5. Meredith Hill (AUS) 8:24:01 T1 2:23 Cycle 4:56:21 T2 2:42 Run 3:22:32
6. Mareen Hufe (GER) 8:29:50 T1 2:01 Cycle 4:41:52 T2 2:52 Run 3:43:03
7. Kimberley McKinney (AUS) 8:43:48 T1 2:05 Cycle 4:50:46 T2 2:23 Run 3:48:32 *F25-29
8. Tracy Morrison (AUS) 8:46:07 T1 2:25 Cycle 5:08:11 T2 4:37 Run 3:30:52
9. Sophie Bubb (GBR) 8:48:05 T1 2:35 Cycle 5:13:26 T2 3:50 Run 3:28:12 * F35-39
10. Saskia Jurriaans (AUS) 8:52:29 T1 3:25 Cycle 5:13:19 T2 3:38 Run 3:32:06 * F30-34