Bink blisters the Ironman Chattanooga field
The 2015 Ironman Chattanooga was the closest finish in Ironman history — a 144.6mile race that wasn’t decided until the final 50 feet.
The 2016 version didn’t have nearly the drama.
40-year-old Belgian Marino Vanhoenacker made sure of that.
The 19-year pro triathlon veteran, known to many in the sport as “Bink”, beat the heat and more than 2,700 other competitors on Sunday in a time of 8 hours, 12 minutes and 22 seconds.
Jeff Symonds of British Columbia, Canada was second at 8:19.27, while Florida’s Matt Russell — seventh in Chattanooga a year ago — crossed the tape in 8:21:53 to place third. Iowa’s Matt Hanson (8:25:36) and Colorado’s Jeff Daerr (8:29:47), rounded out the top five spots overall.
All five competed in the pro division, which featured 36 male athletes. No pro female athletes were entered in this year’s field.
A winner of nine previous Ironmans, including ones in Canada, Brazil and Austria, where he set a new Ironman record of 7:45:58 in July 2011, Vanhoenacker was two seconds behind Hanson coming out of the 2.4-mile swim in the Tennessee River, clocking in at 45:08 with Symonds coming out of the water in 45:10. Virginia’s Eric Limkemann had the fastest swim at 41:25.
But Vanhoenacker passed Russell and Limkemann around the 80th mile of the bike course and completed the 116-mile route
through Chattanooga and Walker County in 4:27:28, the fastest time among the top five. After a speedy stop at the transition area back at Ross’ Landing, he ran a strong 2:55:26 in the 26.2-mile run.
Despite the humidity and searing temperatures that reached 94 degrees at the finish line, Vanhoenacker had opened up a lead of nearly 9:30 at the 19-mile mark of the run. He slowed down somewhat in the final seven-plus miles, but still averaged 6:41 per mile of the length of the run.
Vanhoenacker waved to the crowd as he approached the line and raised both hands in triumph when he broke the tape. He immediately headed for the medical tent for treatment following the race and was unavailable for comment as of press time.
“Marino is just on another level,” Symonds said follow- ing the race. “But I’m happy with how I did and I’m thrilled to say I battled with him. It’s something to tell the kids about one day.”
Symonds said the unrelenting Scenic City heat made for a tough day.
“You just tried to do everything you could to handle it,” he said. “I drove the course once and when I looked at some of those hills, and knowing how hot it was going to be, I knew (Sunday) was going to be brutal. It was like Rocky versus Drago out there. It wasn’t pretty. We just had to slug it out.”
However, Symonds said the Ironman Chattanooga race volunteers helped make the day easier.
“They were absolutely amazing,” he added. “They were there with water or ice whenever you needed it. We got phenomenal support here and the people were so enthusiastic. My hat’s off to the Chattanooga community.”
On the women’s side, Richele Frank, an ac- countant from Vancouver, Canada, was 45th among the women after the swim. But Frank made up 44 spots on the bike to take the lead and didn’t give it up as she won by more than three minutes over German racer Brigitte Paulick.
Frank finished the swim in 57:42, but completed the bike ride in 5:23:15 and clocked in at 3:54:39 in the run for a total time of 10:23:43.
Paulick finished in 10:26:53, while West Virginia teacher Lori Sherlock (10:31:02) was third. Colorado’s Michelle Hildebrand (10:32:05) was fourth, while Amy Chow of Texas (10:51:01) was fifth.
Female competitors made up approximately one-third of Sunday’s field.
Chattanooga will host an Ironman 70.3 event on May 21, 2017 in preparation for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships that the city will host on Sept. 9-10 of next year. Chattanooga was awarded the 70.3 World Championship shortly after hosting last year’s Ironman event.