Eventkalender

Jimmy got 3th in very competitive Western Australia Ironman

International competitors Lawrence van Lingen (South Africa) and Scott Neyedli (Great Britain) established an early lead in the swim, followed by the main group which included defending champion Tim Berkel, Vernay, Jimmy Johnsen, Ollie Whistler, Timothy Marr, Josh Rix, Courtney Ogden and Chris Dmitrieff. Van Lingen exited the water just ahead of Neyedli, in 47:21, with the chase group around 40 seconds behind.

Following a lightning fast transition, Denmark’s Jimmy Johnsen was first to hit the bike course. It was well known going in to today’s race that Johnsen was carrying an achilles injury which had flared up following his recent win at the Shepparton Half Ironman, so no-one was surprised by his strategy of employing his superior bike strength to give himself a significant lead in to the marathon.

With no male competitor able to match Johnsen’s scorching bike speed, he spent the entire 180km riding solo. By the mid-way (90km), Johnsen was more than three minutes ahead of the main chase group, led by Vernay. The only surprise at this stage was that two-time winner and course record holder Jason Shortis was more than twelve minutes behind the leader, setting himself up for a huge challenge if he was to have yet another podium finish in Busselton.

Johnsen completed the bike course in 4:31:38, giving himself a six minute lead over his nearest competitors. Meanwhile, the chase group had been unravelling as the winds picked up, and it was Vernay, Neyedli, Berkel, Ogden and Matty White who set out in hot pursuit of the Dane.

Vernay took the lead at the 15km mark, and shortly after Neyedli also passed the determined, but clearly hurting, Johnsen. Vernay loves Australia and loves the heat, and once he hit the lead it was clear that he was going to be very difficult to beat. As many of their opponents began to suffer from the heat, the two continued to run strongly all the way to the finish, with a brave Johnsen rounding out the placings.

Vernay said at the finish, “Australia is my country. The people are so cool, it’s so beautiful, I love it here. I would like to thank the crowd, they really helped me”. He then stated that he would be taking the year off from his teaching job in 2010, to focus on achieving a top three finish in Hawaii.

An ecstatic Neyedli was almost lost for words at the finish. “I had a really good day. I had seen this race on television before and it was always a race I wanted to give a crack.

“Patrick was always going to be the winner to me. During the race I just tried to always make sure I was there. I was running fast and thought some of these guys are going to drop like flies, and sure enough they did”.

While disappointed that his injury had affected his run, Johnsen was thrilled to finally achieve an Ironman podium finish.