Michael Raelert shines at Ironman 70.3 Mandurah
Michael Raelert claimed the victory at the SunSmart Ironman 70.3 Mandurah thanks to an outstanding performance. The 34-year old won the race in Western Australia in 3:35:55 after opening up a decisive gap on the run. Two Australians ranked in silver and bronze position: Tim Reed took second place in 3:38:42 in front of Christian Kemp (3:39:43).
“Today, this was a really tough job,” said Michael Raelert, “but the result is absolutely nice. The race was very fast from the start and I felt good. If you can finish an Ironman 70.3 in such a fast time, everything is even better.”
Moreover, Michael Raelert seemed to be on the way to improve his own world record in Ironman 70.3 during the final run. He achieved the time of 3:34:04 on November 14th in 2009 when he won the first of two consecutive titles at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Clearwater, Florida.
Ironman 70.3 Mandurah was held as the Australian Pro Championship which guaranteed top competitors and a fast race right from the start. “The signs for this race were simple: attack,” said Michael Raelert. Two weeks before in Miami he had not been totally satisfied with his swim. “My start has been a little sleepy there,” he said. This time, the Rostockian powered his way in an impressive way from the beginning. He took over the lead early and exited the water after only 20:08 minutes. He entered T1 after the 1.9 km swim loop leading a strong first group, men’s Top 10 came out of the water within 15 seconds.
On the bike, Michael Raelert started an early-bird-move together with the Australian trio Luke Bell, Christian Kemp and Tim Reed. Three-time Ironman World Champion and two-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion Craig Alexander (Australia) and world elite athlete Ruedi Wild from Switzerland were already dropped behind by 45 seconds after a third of the 90 km long bike leg. Michael Raelert finally came off the bike with an excellent split of 2:00:38, being a few seconds ahead of Tim Reed, Luke Bell and Christian Kemp. “The pace was very high,” said Michael Raelert, “it was not too bad, that I had the experience of a similar bike stretch in Miami in my bag.”
Michael Raelert then early put time on his pursuers during the run. The conditions in Mandurah were warm, but almost perfect, and the 34-year old started into the half marathon with a tough pace. After 6 kilometers, Australian Tim Reed was already 17 seconds behind, after 11 kilometers Michael Raelert had opened up a gap of a minute, Christian Kemp was 1:55 behind and in third. “In the past few weeks I have been able to steadily improve my run,” said Michael Raelert, “I am very happy and thankful for that.” In 1:12:45, Michael Raelert had the best run split by far, so he could enjoy the audience and his victory on the last meters of the race.
Michael stays in Australia for another week and heads for Ballarat were he will challenge another Ironman 70.3 race next Sunday.
Bike photo: ©Ronny Kiaulehn