Czech star takes out season opener
CZECH supermum Radka Kahlefeldt fought back from a mid-race bathroom break to outlast a strong field in the women’s 70.3 Ironman race in Geelong yesterday.
Kahlefeldt finished in a time of four hours, nine minutes and 55 seconds and held off a chasing pack that consisted of Aussie pair Ellie Salthouse (4:10.54 hours) and Grace Thek (4:12.22 hours) and Swiss veteran Caroline Steffen (4:14.14 hours).
The 34-year-old famously returned to competitive racing last March just 11 weeks after giving birth to her daughter, Ruby, who was at the finishing line to greet her mum as she sprinted to victory. Kahlefeldt admitted she would not have forgiven herself if the mid-race stop had cost her victory.
“I definitely didn’t think it would be easy. I knew I was going in against a really good field against Caroline, Ellie and Grace and in the first race of the season you never know how you will go so it is always a big unknown and I am really happy with the race,” Kahlefeldt said.
“I had to stop in a portaloo after two kilometres of the run, and I lost probably 40 seconds on Ellie and it took 10 kilometres for me to catch her again, so I thought if I don’t catch her I will regret that stop.
“But it is the first race of the season and not everything goes to plan, so I am very happy with the race. It is amazing to start with a win and I am super happy.”
Salthouse controlled the first stanza of the run after fair- ly even swim and bike legs from the top four, but the Queenslander was unable to keep pace with the Czech champion in the run.
Kahlefeldt said her focus for the rest of the season was on the 70.3 series but revealed her husband and coach, Brad — who won gold in the triathlon for Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games — had some new challenges lined up for the second half of the year.
“I will definitely stay with the 70.3, there are so many beautiful races and I love it,” she said. “Also for the family it is easier to do half ironman training, but my husband, Brad, who is coaching me, said we might do a full one at the end of the year, which I didn’t know he was planning, so we will see.
“It is always the same when you cross the finish line.
“You have this amazing feeling, it is almost addictive, which is why people keep doing it. If it wasn’t a great feeling I don’t think people would come back and suffer for fourplus hours, but once you reach the finish line you forget about everything.”