Are you excited about Challenge Bahrain this Saturday? We are – most of the world’s best long-course triathletes will be on the start line at 7.30am local time (4.30am UK time), including both Kona winners plus a smattering of Brits.
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Are you excited about Challenge Bahrain this Saturday? We are – most of the world’s best long-course triathletes will be on the start line at 7.30am local time (4.30am UK time), including both Kona winners plus a smattering of Brits.
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Yet how to watch Sebastian Kienle, Mirinda Carfrae, Tim Don, Rachel Joyce et al? The good news is that there will be a live video stream on the event website, with two-time Kona winner Chris ‘Macca’ McCormack on commentating duties.
But that’s not all! We’re also hosting a liveblog on the 220 website, where deputy editor Liz (who’s already out in Bahrain) will deliver lots of course-side insight and debate from 7am local time (4am UK time). Plus there will be the usual real-time updates on our Twitter feed.
The official race schedule for Saturday 6th December runs as follows:
5:00am – Transition opens
7:30am – Start Challenge Bahrain 2014
7:30am – Pro Men
7:35am – Pro Women
8:05am – AG 50 years and older, all sub-4:40 athletes
8:15am – AG Women
8:25am – AG 18-34 Men
8:35am – AG 35-49 Men
8:45am – Relay
Approx 11:00am – Finish of the male race winner Challenge Bahrain
Approx 11:30am – Finish of female race winner – Challenge Bahrain
Nearly 100 professional athletes will be lining up on Saturday, including both current Ironman world champions Sebastian Kienle and Mirinda Carfrae, and various Olympians and Commonwealth champs.
There are three British men on the start line (Tim Don, Ritchie Nicholls and Fraser Cartmell) and three British women (Rachel Joyce, Jodie Swallow, and Jodie Stimpson on her middle-distance debut). The full pro start list can be found here.
There will also be more than 1,000 age-groupers racing next Saturday, with the course involving a fast flat point-to-point course that takes in a 1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21km run, all spread out over a point-to-point course that passes both ancient Mesopotamian sites and high-tech landmarks, and finishes at the F1 motor circuit (maps here).
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Who do you think will triumph in Bahrain? Let us know in the comments below!
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With so many of the world’s top long-course triathletes lined up for the first Challenge Bahrain, we’ll be right there course-side to cover all the action.
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Join us right here from 7.30am local time (4.30am UK time) on Saturday 6 December for live and in-depth coverage of all the action. A live video feed can be found here.
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P.S. We’d love you to dive into the comments below and tell us your opinion, don’t be shy!
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With so many of the world’s top long-course triathletes lined up for the first Challenge Bahrain, we’ll be right there course-side to cover all the action.
Advertisement
Join us right here from 7.30am local time (4.30am UK time) on Saturday 6 December for live and in-depth coverage of all the action. A live video feed can be found here.
Advertisement
P.S. We’d love you to dive into the comments below and tell us your opinion, don’t be shy!
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Two-time 70.3 Ironman world champion, Michael Raelert set the pace on the 1.9km swim, leading out Kiwi Dylan McNeice and former IM world champ Pete Jacobs into and out of T1. British hopes were firmly pinned on Tim Don, who had a solid swim to exit the first transition in the top 10.
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Reigning world champ Sebastian Kienle, meanwhile, had a day to forget, with a less than stellar swim before a mechanical early on in the bike put pay to a big win in Bahrain.
Another big name to DNF was Dirk Bockel, who pulled to the side 40km into the bike due to increasing pain in his hip.
In Kienle’s absence, fellow German Andreas Dreitz destroyed the 90k bike leg to enter T2 with a several minute cushion over Raelert and Australia’s Tim ‘two-‘piece’ Reed.
Don meanwhile continued to make his way through the field, as Jacobs quickly fell off the pace.
Two thirds of the way through the 21.1km run, Raelert passed a flagging Dreitz for the lead, which he would retain to the line, crossing the tape in 3:36hrs.
Dreitz followed in for second, just over 2mins later, Reed third a further 1:30 back.
Quotes, pics and Brit round-up to follow shortly…
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(Image: Getty)
Two-time 70.3 Ironman world champion, Michael Raelert set the pace on the 1.9km swim, leading out Kiwi Dylan McNeice and former IM world champ Pete Jacobs into and out of T1. British hopes were firmly pinned on Tim Don, who had a solid swim to exit the first transition in the top 10.
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Reigning world champ Sebastian Kienle, meanwhile, had a day to forget, with a less than stellar swim before a mechanical early on in the bike put pay to a big win in Bahrain.
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Another big name to DNF was Dirk Bockel, who pulled to the side 40km into the bike due to increasing pain in his hip.
In Kienle’s absence, fellow German Andreas Dreitz destroyed the 90k bike leg to enter T2 with a several minute cushion over Raelert and Australia’s Tim ‘two-‘piece’ Reed.
Don meanwhile continued to make his way through the field, as Jacobs quickly fell off the pace.
Two thirds of the way through the 21.1km run, Raelert passed a flagging Dreitz for the lead, which he would retain to the line, crossing the tape in 3:36hrs.
Dreitz followed in for second, just over 2mins later, Reed third a further 1:30 back.
Quotes, pics and Brit round-up to follow shortly…
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(Image: Getty)
Fourth-place finisher at this year’s Ironman Worlds, GB’s Jodie Swallow came to the desert with victory on her mind. Flying under the radar in the event lead-up, Swallow was always going to be a threat on the middle-distance course. Predictably she rocketed out of the swim in 22:39mins, taking the lead throughout the majority of the 90km bike, until the last few kms when ITU athlete Annable Luxford (AUS) pipped her into T2.
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Joining the leading duo was Denmark’s Helle Frederiksen in third and GB’s Rachel Joyce in fourth. The same quartet would exit T2 together, but it was Frederiksen who shot to the front, as Swallow retained her second place and Luxford and Joyce faded.
Halfway through and Joyce had managed to retain third place, some 3mins off Frederiksen, as Melissa Hauschildt (AUS) took up fourth place a further minute behind.
But it was to be Frederiksen’s days as the young Dane pulled out a 2min advantage over the chasing Brits to win in 4:49hrs.
Within the closing kilometres, Joyce took second from Swallow, positions the Brit duo would retain to the line.
Pics and quotes from the Brits to follow…
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(Image: Getty)
Fourth-place finisher at this year’s Ironman Worlds, GB’s Jodie Swallow came to the desert with victory on her mind. Flying under the radar in the event lead-up, Swallow was always going to be a threat on the middle-distance course. Predictably she rocketed out of the swim in 22:39mins, taking the lead throughout the majority of the 90km bike, until the last few kms when ITU athlete Annable Luxford (AUS) pipped her into T2.
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Joining the leading duo was Denmark’s Helle Frederiksen in third and GB’s Rachel Joyce in fourth. The same quartet would exit T2 together, but it was Frederiksen who shot to the front, as Swallow retained her second place and Luxford and Joyce faded.
Halfway through and Joyce had managed to retain third place, some 3mins off Frederiksen, as Melissa Hauschildt (AUS) took up fourth place a further minute behind.
But it was to be Frederiksen’s days as the young Dane pulled out a 2min advantage over the chasing Brits to win in 4:49hrs.
Within the closing kilometres, Joyce took second from Swallow, positions the Brit duo would retain to the line.
Pics and quotes from the Brits to follow…
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(Image: Getty)
The Brits once again cluttered the top-10, with Rachel Joyce finishing second, Jodie Swallow third, Tim Don fourth and Jodie Stimpson eighth in her first half-distance race.
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At time of writing, 220 is waiting to speak to the podium sextet, but we managed to grab Don and Stimpson before the recovery tent came a calling’…
With his luggage only turning up at 10.30pm the night before the race, Don had spent his ‘taper’ buying new kit. Further still, he was recovering from a calf injury, which had seen him reduce his run training to just 30km a week.
Nonetheless, the now-seasoned middle-distance podium botherer and 220 columnist would have a strong day in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
“It was a tough race. The swim wasn’t too fast, got in a good position, and then the first 30k of the bike I was like ‘where’s this tailwind that everyone’s talking about?!’ And then Sebastian [Kienle] went past us, he was just crazy fast.
“But on a course like that we were spread out so early, so I just rode my own race. I ended up with Nils Frommhold and Luke Bell.
“I wasn’t sure how my run was going to go, I’ve had a pulled calf. So I’m really happy with fourth.”
Athletes were treated to a safari on the half-marathon run course as it weaved its way through the Al Areen Wildife Park.
“I saw camels, gazelle and two ostrich ran in front of me! Ha ha!” exclaimed a delighted Don. “This kind of event is so unique and is done so well, so to be a part of it is fantastic. I hope this kind of event stays, cause they’re great for the sport, great for Bahrain and great for the athletes.”
Bahrain was Don’s last race of the year, rounding off a successful season for the former ITU world champ.
“I’ve podiumed in every race I’ve done this year except for this one, so I can’t complain. With that kind of field, those kind of high stakes, everyone was coming here to win.”
NEW KID ON THE HALF-DISTANCE BLOCK
Stimpson, meanwhile, was trying on the half-iron distance for size, a challenge set her by her coach Darren Smith as a pre-Christmas hit-out and before knuckling down for what will hopefully be her Rio Olympics qualifying year.
“It was quite nice not to have to fight so much in the swim, like you do in the ITU field,” enthused Stimpson at the finish line. “It started really fast so it took me a bit to get on feet. I think I was with Rachel Joyce, which I was happy with. But I was quite happy to just come out as I know how fast the other girls are.
“On the bike, all I had in my head was [coach] Darren [Smith] saying ‘pace, pace, pace’. So I just had to concentrate. I think knowing the field was a bit of an error, as I was sat behind Mary Beth Ellis and that’s when the front four got away. But I was feeling fine, I just couldn’t do anything about it at that point. They’d gone. And then as the bike went on, obviously the leg’s started to hurt. I got to 60k and I was like, ‘okay, now I’m hurting a bit. I just can’t cope, just hold on now.’
“I got onto the run and I felt okay, and I pulled in Caroline [Steffen] and ran with her. I couldn’t have done any faster anyway. The pace was as fast as I could go. And then I got to just before 20k, and me and Caroline shook hands and said ‘good job’. We’d pushed each other through. At 20k, though, she had more legs than me and I started to get a stitch, and cramp up. Oh I was in all sorts of trouble that last k!
“When Darren first set this challenge I just wanted to finish the bloody thing! Maybe get top 10. But these girls, they’ve done numerous ones of these, they now how to pace, they know the field. To come into this field, I’m lining up next to my idols really. They’re people who I watch Kona in awe of.
“But I won’t be leaving the ITU circuit anytime soon. This was a challenge, this was something new. I’ve got Rio to focus on. It was a good hit out before Christmas. And now I’m so excited to go home!”
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(Image: Getty)
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The Brits once again cluttered the top-10, with Rachel Joyce finishing second, Jodie Swallow third, Tim Don fourth and Jodie Stimpson eighth in her first half-distance race.
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At time of writing, 220 is waiting to speak to the podium sextet, but we managed to grab Don and Stimpson before the recovery tent came a calling’…
With his luggage only turning up at 10.30pm the night before the race, Don had spent his ‘taper’ buying new kit. Further still, he was recovering from a calf injury, which had seen him reduce his run training to just 30km a week.
Nonetheless, the now-seasoned middle-distance podium botherer and 220 columnist would have a strong day in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
“It was a tough race. The swim wasn’t too fast, got in a good position, and then the first 30k of the bike I was like ‘where’s this tailwind that everyone’s talking about?!’ And then Sebastian [Kienle] went past us, he was just crazy fast.
“But on a course like that we were spread out so early, so I just rode my own race. I ended up with Nils Frommhold and Luke Bell.
“I wasn’t sure how my run was going to go, I’ve had a pulled calf. So I’m really happy with fourth.”
Athletes were treated to a safari on the half-marathon run course as it weaved its way through the Al Areen Wildife Park.
“I saw camels, gazelle and two ostrich ran in front of me! Ha ha!” exclaimed a delighted Don. “This kind of event is so unique and is done so well, so to be a part of it is fantastic. I hope this kind of event stays, cause they’re great for the sport, great for Bahrain and great for the athletes.”
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Bahrain was Don’s last race of the year, rounding off a successful season for the former ITU world champ.
“I’ve podiumed in every race I’ve done this year except for this one, so I can’t complain. With that kind of field, those kind of high stakes, everyone was coming here to win.”
NEW KID ON THE HALF-DISTANCE BLOCK
Stimpson, meanwhile, was trying on the half-iron distance for size, a challenge set her by her coach Darren Smith as a pre-Christmas hit-out and before knuckling down for what will hopefully be her Rio Olympics qualifying year.
“It was quite nice not to have to fight so much in the swim, like you do in the ITU field,” enthused Stimpson at the finish line. “It started really fast so it took me a bit to get on feet. I think I was with Rachel Joyce, which I was happy with. But I was quite happy to just come out as I know how fast the other girls are.
“On the bike, all I had in my head was [coach] Darren [Smith] saying ‘pace, pace, pace’. So I just had to concentrate. I think knowing the field was a bit of an error, as I was sat behind Mary Beth Ellis and that’s when the front four got away. But I was feeling fine, I just couldn’t do anything about it at that point. They’d gone. And then as the bike went on, obviously the leg’s started to hurt. I got to 60k and I was like, ‘okay, now I’m hurting a bit. I just can’t cope, just hold on now.’
“I got onto the run and I felt okay, and I pulled in Caroline [Steffen] and ran with her. I couldn’t have done any faster anyway. The pace was as fast as I could go. And then I got to just before 20k, and me and Caroline shook hands and said ‘good job’. We’d pushed each other through. At 20k, though, she had more legs than me and I started to get a stitch, and cramp up. Oh I was in all sorts of trouble that last k!
“When Darren first set this challenge I just wanted to finish the bloody thing! Maybe get top 10. But these girls, they’ve done numerous ones of these, they now how to pace, they know the field. To come into this field, I’m lining up next to my idols really. They’re people who I watch Kona in awe of.
“But I won’t be leaving the ITU circuit anytime soon. This was a challenge, this was something new. I’ve got Rio to focus on. It was a good hit out before Christmas. And now I’m so excited to go home!”
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(Image: Getty)
1st, Helle Frederiksen, DEN
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“I’ve been training very hard. I didn’t have the race that I wanted at the 70.3 worlds. I wanted to make Bahrain my Worlds. To win over girls like this makes it all the more sweet.
“In October I was like, I don’t know if I can do this [race]. But I turned it around and I couldn’t be happier now!
2nd, Rachel Joyce, GB
“It was really hard work on the bike. I had two objectives; try and catch Jodie and try and drop Helle. I got one but not the other!
“I had my plan but it didn’t really work out because everyone was so strong. I need to practise my cornering a bit cause I kind of fell back a little bit at that point on the bike!
“But to get to the front on the bike was a little bit of a surge. I wanted to catch Jodie [who at the start of the bike was in front], but I knew that if I went at a steady rate everyone would just stay with me, so I anticipated this tactic of surging on the bike. I’ve been practising holding a certain amount of power before backing off. So I did it once and I looked back, and Helle was still there. Then I regrouped… but she was quite persistent. I think at that point we joined up to Jodie. But I’d burnt a few matches. So I just had to sit in a bit. I tried to go ahead of Jodie and then I needed a drink so she was straight back past me.
“The way these two went out of T2, I was like ‘oh my word. It is 21k right?!’ They were like bullets, it was quite something to see.
“I haven’t raced that many 70.3s so I’m delighted to come second and I got a lot of information from this race.”
“Going into 2015, having all these podiums but no top spot is a real motivator for me. Even though I would’ve loved a big win this year, the sport gives me so much more that I can kind of live with it, and is the big thing that motivates me in training.”
3rd, Jodie Swallow, GB
“It [the race] was almost like a computer game, it was a surreal. It was like I was let out into the safari park. It was just absolutely amazing. This beats ITU racing: just the attitude of the organisers, having the royal family involved and absolutely loving it. In 10 years of racing I’ve never had that, it was an absolutely amazing experience. And the women’s race definitely felt as special as the men’s race. And that’s a big progression in the sport.
“I always feel more comfortable with others beside me so this race was ideal [Jodie ran with Frederikson for the first half of the run]. But yeah, it was a pleasure to run with Helle for 10k and then get spat out the back…!
“I’m in the process of buying a house, so it’s good to know we’ve got a deposit!”
1st, Michael Raelert, GER
“I’m just really happy to be back racing [Michael has been plagued with injury for the past two years]. I was just happy to be in the middle of the pack and next to all these guys. I felt like I’d already won the race!
“It was pretty hard to get motivated for the race having had such an amazing experience in the lead-up. We’ve been treated like kings and queens! What Challenge did today was professional but familiar. It’s so unique.
[Michael ran a 1:10hr half marathon.] “Honestly, I hope I can go even faster. Right now I feel good, but not great. I hope I can still improve.”
2nd, Andreas Dreitz, GER
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[On hearing that he clocked a 1:57:22 90km bike split] “That’s incredible! It was a fast course and I was pushing really hard. I had a new bike set-up, we made some adjustments, but sub-2hrs is just amazing.
“Knowing there was a live feed, also gives you the energy to push harder!
“Coming into T2 I knew it was close [to Michael in second]. I had good pace at the beginning of the run. At kilometre 6, I j heard it was still the same distance to him and I thought maybe I can go for it. But I’m glad the guys behind couldn’t see the live stream cause it was a struggle at 20k.”
3rd, Tim Reed, AUS
“As soon as the 20m draft ruling came in I thought the Germans are going to be happy with that. They always bike really hard and I’ve always respected the way that they’ve raced. I missed the first swim group, but I knew we had the 20m rule so I knew it was going to be fair. So I just ran my own race, which these guys did too. And the best athlete won, and that’s always a good feeling.
“It also means that the stronger bikers can change the race. I mean we saw that with Andreas, to get out 1:30min back [on the swim] and then to kill it on the bike, that’s what we want in this sport. To even be in the mix with these guys is a real honour.
“People were giving me splits to second place. But I was like , ‘I don’t care about second place, where’s Tim [Don]?! It was stressful. I think it was good on the run because there were so many turns so I couldn’t see him. But when you’ve got a guy like that behind you, you can never let up.
“To come here and be valued as a professional, I hope this is a game changer across the sport. It’s tremendous.”
For full Challenge Bahrain results from head to: http://raceresults.sportstats.ca/display-results.xhtml?raceid=20744
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(Image: Getty)