STATE OF PLAY
Running as many Ironman marathons as you can find might not seem an optimal strategy for success. And yet, as another pro cyclist steps across to triathlon, it’s becoming a prospect to entertain, says Tim
There’s much best practice in triathlon, many successful blueprints to follow. But Cameron Wurf wasn’t one of those characters. Wurf’s approach was novel. The outspoken Australian is a former lightweight Olympic rower, who took a sabbatical from the world of cycling to have a stab at Ironman. Almost every Ironman. In 2017 and 2018 every race on the calendar seemed to have his name on the start-list. In both years he started eight full-distance races and they’d play out in similar fashion: Wurf hammering to the front on the bike to be caught at some point on the marathon run leg.
We saw it at the Ironman Worlds in Hawaii in 2017, where he was first into T2 and eventually run down to finish 17th. The following year he held on for ninth. By 2019 it was fifth. Wurf was speeding up. His debut Ironman marathon run had been 4:03hrs. In breaking the course record in Italy, he dropped it to 2:45hrs.
The tactic of training to run Ironman marathons by simply running as many as possible had changed from looking like a fast-track to burnout to a masterstroke for a possible Kona crown.
Cycling team Ineos Grenadiers came calling for Wurf, and the temptation to return to the peloton proved too great, but compatriot Adam Hansen is heading in the opposite direction – not only promising to follow Wurf’s multiracing plan, but test it to extremis.
Everything Hansen does seems to be up a level. While the current Vuelta a España marks Wurf’s fourth Grand Tour, Hansen completed a record 20 consecutively up to 2018. He bowed out at this year’s Giro d’Italia and, Covid disruption aside, plans to take part in nine Ironman races in Europe next year.
The 39-year-old knows he’ll need to adapt fast if he’s to make any impact on the pro side of the sport, so everything is in overdrive. Take nutrition. While others might target 80 grammes of carbs per hour, Hansen believes his body can handle 120g. Equating to around five or so gels per hour, he even plans to take one halfway through the swim.
Or aerodynamics. Not only will the wind tunnel become a second home, he’s making his own 100% carbon tri shoes and aerobars. As for hydrodynamics, he’s fashioned his own Endless Pool at home in the Czech Republic, claiming it gives a more realistic swimming experience.
The plan is to go all out on the swim and bike, then jog to figure out pacing on the marathon. But three races will include a concerted effort on the run in a big push for a Kona slot. The mind games for other athletes will be figuring out which ones these will be.
The big question is whether Hansen is just another washed-up cyclist coming to tri for a rude awakening, whether he can rival the sizeable impact of Wurf or if he can go even better? For a sport that needs characters on the course (especially causing havoc on the bike leg) as well as off it, it’ll be fun finding out.
“Adam Hansen is set to test Cameron Wurf’s multiracing plan to extremis”