November 17, 2011 at 10:03 PM

Massive weekend of racing capped off with a win by Coach Edwards and a third from Coach Franken.

Well that’s enough about the coaches, let’s talk athletes.

Dennis Neal kicked his Ironman Melbourne prep off with a great hard man effort on Sunday. Dennis, as per normal, ran home well and finished with a 4:35 and 11th on the day.

Ben Ontronen and Dean Picken, from our Warrnambool contingent, finished at the same time stopping the clock at 4:45:36. Both men pushed hard all day and it looks like they will have a few more fierce races together in the coming years. More established athletes, Ron Zeissler and Cam Wright had solid days out. Ron is only a few weeks out from IMWA and is looking in good form.

Our new breed of “Iron Virgins” hit the track running.

Dave Ross, Owen Leggett, Sam Smith, Mat Thorley, Blake Hedley, Scott Bristow, Mark Heaysman (no not Dane Heaysman, his dad, Mark), Gab Trewin, Sarah Mckay, Kellie Pitman, Stella Barber, Stacey and Rachel Burrage all had great races.

Name	Swim	Bike	Run	Total
FRANKEN, Darren	00:28:39	02:21:09	01:28:32	04:21:47
EDWARDS, Jamie	00:26:20	02:26:55	01:27:53	04:23:53
NEAL, Dennis	00:30:20	02:25:14	01:36:00	04:35:57
TIPPETT, Mat	00:26:00	02:25:02	01:49:35	04:45:31
PICKEN, Dean	00:34:15	02:28:52	01:38:53	04:45:36
ONTRONEN, Ben	00:30:46	02:30:19	01:41:04	04:45:36
Ross, David	00:36:49	02:29:07	01:45:27	04:55:22
ZIESSLER, Ron	00:25:17	02:43:35	01:45:13	04:58:07
LEGGETT, Owen	00:23:21	02:36:42	01:57:14	05:00:17
VIRGONA, Lyndon	00:36:02	02:45:06	01:44:01	05:09:30
SMITH, Sam	00:37:48	02:40:42	01:49:58	05:13:41
THORLEY, Mathew	00:36:10	02:51:41	01:39:46	05:13:04
HEDLEY, Blake	00:40:44	02:53:31	02:48:40	06:29:01
HEAYSMAN, Mark	00:49:30	03:17:37	02:20:31	06:35:04
WRIGHT, Cameron	00:33:59	02:42:13	02:07:53	05:28:11
BRISTOW, Scott	00:42:03	03:00:23	02:09:15	05:57:47
FOX, Darren	00:36:34	02:44:24	01:56:36	05:22:45
CAUNE, Andrew	00:25:58	00:00:00	00:00:00	00:00:00
WOODRUFF, Peter	00:38:50	02:57:48	00:00:00	00:00:00
THOMPSON, Darren	00:35:40	02:28:38	00:00:00	00:00:00

The girls also turned out solid days with Aimee Schicker putting in the best performance of the day stopping the clock in a 5:14 overall with Stacey Glenister not far behind with at 5:15, great racing girls. Other notable performances on the day came from Sarah Mckay, who suffered from sickness the whole day and fist timer Rachel Burrage.

It’s great to see the sport of Ironman thriving with a new breed of female “hard chargers” hitting the scene.

Name	Swim	Bike	Run	Total
SCHICKER, Aimee	00:33:37	02:51:58	01:44:10	05:14:39
TREWIN, Gabrielle	00:34:16	03:03:47	02:08:23	05:50:41
MCKAY, Sarah	00:37:52	02:58:46	02:24:29	06:08:05
GLENISTER, Stacey	00:32:52	02:34:17	02:02:51	05:15:13
PITMAN, Kellie-Ann	00:38:47	02:59:25	02:07:40	05:50:39
BARBER, Stella	00:40:42	03:14:45	02:29:31	06:30:08
O'CONNOR, Susan	00:39:25	03:07:21	02:20:46	06:13:34
BURRAGE, Rachel	00:37:17	03:01:09	02:13:00	05:50:00
WEBB, Karen	00:36:08	03:05:01	00:00:00	00:00:00
MCMULLAN, Julie	00:42:27	00:00:00	00:00:00	00:00:00

We now move our attention to some international racing. James Duncan made the trip across to NZ for a pleasing result.

Karapiro Half Ironman, NZ

James Duncan took out third in his age group at Karapiro Half.

Swim: 0:29:00

Ride: 2:40:49

Run: 1:44:42

Total: 4:54:33