Mike Phillips’ bid for a fast start to the new Ironman Pro Series was trending nicely until a wild gust of wind and a rough patch of tarmac combined to painfully end his race at the 20th Ironman South Africa overnight.
The Cantabrian, racing a second full Ironman just 29 days after his record-smashing Ironman NZ heroics in Taupo, crashed out of the duel African Championship at 50kmh – towards the end of the 180km bike leg.
“The wounds will heal, but the race suit’s likely toast!” Phillips said from Port Elizabeth.
“Gutted to crash out at @ironmantri African Champs. I’d just got up to 5th, 5km from the bike finish, when a big gust on a rough patch took my front wheel out at 50kmh.
“Brutal day, massive respect to all who raced out there! Huge thanks for the support and for following along. Going to be a painful trip home!”
The 34-year-old World No.41 had hoped for a decent points haul to get himself into the $6m+ Pro Series conversation after leaving his opening gambit till June’s Ironman Cairns in last year’s inaugural campaign. It will be interesting to see his next move now as he clearly in good form.
Magnus Ditlev, who claimed the maximum 5000 points and $28,000 (NZ$49,000) after winning the men’s race in 7:44.55, underscored the toughed conditions afterwards.
The great Dane made his race winning move at the 96km mark of the bike to take a 6min 30sec lead out of T2 before producing a 2h 40m marathon.
“It was a really tough day, the wind made it super brutal and honest,” said Ditlev who beat Marten van Riel (BEL) by a 4mins 33sec. German debutant Jonas Schomburg impressively rounded out the podium in 7:52:19.
“You saw some huge gaps already on the swim which I felt I had a pretty good swim and swam with some good swimmers but the gap to the front four was a little bit larger than I had hoped but then again it’s also the best of the best short course swimmers… I tried to pace the bike a bit more than I normally do, so a little bit more conservative in the beginning and ride my own pace. I managed to catch the front guys one by one and then around 70/80k I got a gap and it was just full pedal from then on!
“It was very tough in the headwind and quick in the tail wind. Then on the run I said jokingly to my coach yesterday that I’d do the first half in 1:15 and then hopefully have a big enough gap to cruise a 1:20 home and I did that. Amazing crowd here in South Africa, so I’m super pleased to come away with the win.”
Germany’s Anne Reischmann won the women’s title in 8:51:41, edging defending champion Marta Sanchez of Spain (8:54:58) and Dane Katrine Græsbøll Christensen (8:58:42).
“I’m just so incredibly happy, also really tired but really, really happy,” said Reischmann.
“I had a really good swim, I was practicing the swim a lot the past few days and I really enjoyed swimming in the sea and so I just swam happy and confident and I think I had one of my best swims. Then on the bike I tried to stick to my race plan and stick to my numbers, just head down in aero. I was struggling towards the end and I saw Marta at the front and that gave me a lot of motivation and we got into T2 together. I might have started the run a tiny bit too fast, after 10km I thought this is going to be a long last to 20km but I’m just so incredibly happy to finish and to win!”
Top photo: Graeme Murray/Ironman NZ
