Lanzarote Information

What an event! Both Ironman Lanzarote 2008 winners, Bert Jammaer and Bella Bayliss retain their titles for 2009.

Playa Grande in Puerto del Carmen was buzzing at 6.45am on Saturday 23rd May 2009, more and more spectators were spilling down on to the beach forming the biggest supporters crowd that I’ve seen over the years, the athletes were in position behind the huge blown up coke bottle and start line.

It couldn’t have been better conditions for the swim, there wasn’t even a ripple on the surface of the sea.   The pro’s hit the water first and then wave after wave of orange caps ran into the sea. Stephen Bayliss was leading the swim for the men and Hillary Biscay for the women. The swim was two laps of the course, the athletes had to exit the water and around the buoys to start their second lap.

Once the swim was completed, the swimmers had to run up a corridor the length of the beach, whilst pulling their wetsuits off, grab their bikes and head out for the 180km course. The crowd covered the length of the transition stage and every athlete was cheered and clapped along the route.

Here are some individual athletes spotted heading out on their bike:

Mikelangel Roldan Marin (left)

Helen Williams – still smiling! (right)

Lemoine Jérôme (bottom left)

Javier Rodríguez Jiménez (bottom right)

Many of the athletes say that they just couldn't do this event, the world’s toughest Ironman without the support of their family, friends and volunteers. Many of these supporters have t-shirts specially printed, like the crowd waiting for number 549 Darren Woodall, and No 24 Nico & 220 Mark, or the girls with the banner for Nick & Ben.

And then you have to feel for those athletes that have planned and trained for this race, months if not years of cycling, swimming and running to get the stamina and level of fitness needed to complete the course and then on the day it doesn’t go to plan. The swimmer on the jet ski didn’t make half way on the first lap before he had to signal for help and it was race over for him. Whereas Ralph MacKinnon (no 935) pictured on the right, completed his swim and found his bike with a flat, this was his first Ironman event, he picked the toughest one to try!

Once all the bikes had left we headed for our volunteers position which was at the aid station on Los Pocillos beach, away from the barriers and crowds of supporters we met all of the runners as they passed through, not even slowing the pace to collect refreshment from the volunteers. It was interesting to see what required as the race wore on, we had a selection of gel power packs, pretzel sticks, energy drink, water, coca cola, bananas and oranges. There was a definite pattern in what the competitors were taking, in the early stages they were focusing on energy drinks and water, in the middle section eating loads of fruit and towards the end coca cola became the most popular request. We had time for a couple of photos as the pro athletes passed through before the main competitors arrived and it was all hands on drinks!

Stephen Bayliss (left)

Bella Bayliss (right)

Stephan Vuckovic (bottom left)

Gregorio Cáceres Morales (bottom right)

It was really interesting seeing the race away from the finish line, we could see that Bert Jammaer was always in the lead with the rest of the male pro’s close behind him, he said he had to work as he could for the last 5km of the race to keep the lead from Stephan Vuckovic and collapsed over the finish line. Bella on the other hand started the marathon behind the female leaders and worked her way up to the front to leave a 20 minute gap before Rachel Joyce crossed the line in second place.

Kai Hundertmarck (photo left) made us laugh, on his way through the aid station he pinched one of the Ironman caps from a helper and stopped to clean his sunglasses on another volunteers t-shirt! It was hard but rewarding work on the aid station, you were very conscious that you had to get the right refreshment to each athlete as they passed, whilst keeping out of their way and the road clear of rubbish for them.

Our shift ended at 6pm with the new volunteers for the evening stint, the competitors were slowing down now and walking through the aid station to pick up refreshment, you could see the strain of the day but also the determination to finish this race, it was too much for one or two and they were taken to one side, covered with blankets and the ambulance called to assist them. Here are some competitors spotted during the marathon:

Nicole Woysch & William St Giles (left)

Dave Jones, John Ketley & Jerome Benoit (right)

Francis Joseph Sirdevan (bottom left)

Unknown runners in perfect step!

The competitors have 17 hours to complete the event, there are cut off times for each phase and the clock stops at midnight, there have been competitors who have insisted completing the course even after the finish line has been dismantled, they just want to say that they finished the event even if they were out of time, and there are those suffering with sheer exhaustion that just can’t keep going for the last few kilometers, you can see their friends and family walking with them, encouraging them to just keep going if they can. Everyone who participates in Ironman is a winner and has my utmost respect.

Ironman Lanzarote 2009 Winners Men:

1st Bert Jammaer 8:54:03

2nd Stephan Vuckovic 8:57:17

3rd Olaf Sabatschus 8:59:03

4th Gregorio Cáceres Morales 9:01:06

5th Stephen Bayliss 9:02:15

6th Scott Neyedli 9:04:29

7th Ain-Alar Juhanson 9:05:13

Ironman Lanzarote 2009 Winners Women:

1st Bella Bayliss 9:54:58

2nd Rachel Joyce 10:15:05

3rd Michaela Giger 10:15:41

4th Kathrin Paetzold 10:18:59

5th Hillary Biscay 10:28:45

6th Irene Kinnegim 10:32:13

You may also be interested in:

Interview with Ironman Bella Bayliss

Interview with Ironman Gordon Hutton