Saturday, 12 March 2011 00:00
Van Lierde, Dibens win $50,000 each at Abu Dhabi International Triathlon
Abu Dhabi, UAE. 12 March 2011: Belgium’s Frederik Van Lierde put in a storming run leg to claim glory in the US$250,000 Abu Dhabi International Triathlon 2011 with British superstar Julie Dibens winning the elite female race for a second year in a row after a lung-bursting wire-to-wire race.
South Africa's Raynard Tissink showed why his career gameplan of sure and steady is reaping him greater and greater rewards with a solid fourth place. The top five men were separated by just 33 seconds.
In the men’s field, 32-year-old Van Lierde, who finished fifth in last year’s Abu Dhabi event, snatched overall victory in the 223km ‘pure power’ course with a combined time 6h:43:14 - a winning margin of just 18 seconds over compatriot Marino Vanhoenacker, followed by last year’s runner-up Luxembourg’s Dirk Bockel in 6h:43:42.
Meanwhile traditional short-course expert Dibens, from Salisbury in south England, once again showed why she is regarded as one of the world’s top triathletes as the 2009 Ironman 70.3 World Champion and three-time XTERRA World Champion blew away a world-class female field.
Dibens, 36, led from start to finish with a winning time of 7h:14:23. Second place was Caroline Steffen from Switzerland, in 7h:19:45 with Scotland’s Catriona Morrison third with a time of 7h:31:12. Abu Dhabi Triathlon Team’s Rachel Joyce from the UK took fourth with 7h:32:09.
Having raced in above-average March temperatures for the UAE capital, Dibens visibly struggled as she crossed the finishing line yet was soon back on her feet to explain the extraordinary effort needed to repeat her emphatic 2010 win.
“It’s awesome to win in Abu Dhabi again and I had to push myself like never before. I felt great all day and knew this was a race I could win. In the last 100 yards it was gruelling and I felt sick,” said Dibens, who represented Great Britain in the 2004 Olympics.
“I kept pushing home and to cross that line was amazing. In the heat the 200km cycle was the difference maker. Around the 160km mark I struggled to keep liquid inside my body. It was so tough but thankfully I pulled through. I’ll definitely be back next year to try to make it three in a row.”
South Africa's Lucie Reed (formerly Zelenkova) moved up one spot with her seventh place in what she described as the toughest race of her life. High winds and heat were just two of her challenges. She spent much of the bike fighting to keep fluids down and stopped at one of the aid stations to refuel properly because she was so shaky. "If you'd told me during this time that I was going to finish seventh - let alone finish - I would say you were mad!" said the Joburger.
Another pleased athlete was Van Lierde - who finished 14th in October’s Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, the sport’s pinnacle competition.
“This is the best win of my career without question. I had a good feeling coming into the race because I had a good winter and am in top shape. I kept up the pace on the bike but didn’t attempt to break away because I wanted to conserve my energy for a big run and that tactic worked. I had a lot in reserve and my plan worked out perfectly,” said the Ironman France 2010 runner-up.
“The run was really hard because of the conditions and you could see a few people struggling, yet I actually like this temperature! I don’t care about any of that now as I am the winner and proud to call myself an Abu Dhabi International Triathlon champion.”
The race boasted the strongest field assembled outside the Hawaii World Championships with 61 elite athletes – who together hold 24 World Championships, 50 Ironman titles and over 100 national titles – taking part.
And the event did not disappoint with the world’s best jostling for top spots in both the men and women elite fields.
The tone was set from the off as five-time Australian Olympic swimmer, Ian ‘Thorpedo’ Thorpe got both elite races started.
In the men’s race, Sylvan Sudrie of France was first to surface from the swim first lap, which took place in the stunning Emirates Palace hotel bay, with a time of 18:38 closely followed by a pack including Denmark’s Rasmus Henning, Bockel and Steven Bayliss of Great Britain.
After the first transition it was Bockel who was first onto the bike with Bayliss and the USA’s Andrew Starykowicz in third.
In the early exchanges of the bike course, which went past the emirate’s multi-experiential leisure destination of Yas Island, Bjorn Andersson of Sweden was leading by five minutes with Abu Dhabi’s Faris Al Sultan and Andrew trailing by five.
Andersson dominated the bike course up until the last section before pulling out of the competition. The bike section, which also took competitors around the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix track of Yas Marina Circuit, also saw four-time Ironman World Champion Chris McCormack drop out of the race along with fellow Australians Matty White and Tim Berkel following suit.
Starykowicz started to tire in the first quarter of the run with Van Lierde and Bockel chasing him down, cutting his lead to a mere one minute and forty seconds. Starykowicz was exhausted and faded fast in the latter stages of the run allowing Van Lierde and Vanhoenacker to capitalise.
In the women’s race, it was Dibens all the way. At one point the Briton was only eight minutes off the elite men’s pace and was just too powerful for the chasing pack, which also included other pre-race favourite Leanda Cave from England in sixth.
Competition was just as fierce in the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA)-organised event’s other two distances, the 115.km Short and the new 55.75km Sprint, which was introduced as a feeder competition to introduce more people to the sport.
With a record 1,500 competitors from 51 countries in attendance for the 2011 event, up from 800 in 2010, the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon rightly earned its place as one of the world’s top emerging events.
“We set ourselves big targets before this event and we have delivered. We were extremely heartened by the international turnout for this event. To have such a large field, of both professionals and amateurs, from so many nations is testimonial to the strength of triathlon as a sporting discipline and to Abu Dhabi as a preferred host venue,” said Faisal Al Sheikh, Events Manager, ADTA.
“The conditions were extremely tough today and I think special thanks must go to the hundreds of volunteers, support staff and medical teams who went the extra mile to ensure competitor safety.”
Thousands of fans flocked to the Race Village at the Corniche Beach finishing line where they were entertained from morning well into the evening.
Race Village highlights included circus acts, fire-breathers, jugglers, face painting and stilt-walkers. A chance to win two nights stay at the event’s official hotel, the Palace Rayhaan by Rotana Abu Dhabi, as well as a Ford weekend driving experience were also up for grabs.
In addition to supporting the elite athletes, fans dressed in national flags, put on colourful face paint and cheered home 1,500 amateurs and first time competitors.
The Short distance, 1.5km swim, 100km bike and 10km run, was won by Cesar Beilo, from Luxembourg, and Jane Westley, from the United Kingdom.
The Sprint distance, a 750m swim, 50km bike and 5km run, really boosted uptake from novice racers across the Arabian Gulf with 381 individual athletes and 42 teams signed up.
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