Many of the best triathletes in Europe were on the start line for the Ironman European Championship in Frankfurt and all the talk going into the race was of the duel between the two fastest men over the Ironman distance, Marino Vanhoenacker and Andreas Raelert.
After the swim Vanhoenacker was nearly a minute down on the leaders, which included Raelert, but he soon made the junction. Around half way through the bike leg, Marino made his first move with Sebastian Kienle and soon pushed on alone. Through the rolling hills Vanhoenacker stretched his lead on Kienle and the rest of the field. Vanhoenacker was looking strong, fuelled by High EnergySource, and Raelert was now 10 minutes back.
Marino Vanhoenacker finished the bike leg (180km) in 4:26:26, to give him a lead of three minutes over Kienle going into T2 and more than 12 minutes on Raelert. On the run Vanhoenacker continued to push as his lead steadily increased. It was a strong performance by the Belgium to take a convincing 10th Ironman win in 8:03:31.
The next target for Marino Vanhoenacker will be the Ironman World Championships in 2012.
Working with elite athletes like Vanhoenacker provides High5 with important feedback to develop and improve the High5 nutrition range. The High5 Faster & Further Guides (downloadable at www.highfive.co.uk) are the direct result of the testing done with elite athletes and can help both elite and club athletes improve their performance.
Results
Top 5 Men Ironman European Championship, Frankfurt
1. Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 8:03:31
2. Sebastian Kienle (GER) 8:09:55
3. Clemente Alonso-McKernan (ESP) 8:14:04
4. Andreas Raelert (GER) 8:17:36
5. Jan Raphael (GER) 8:18:17
