Ironman Hawaii Results - Triathlon Week

Robert G. · 10-23-2003, 10:20 PM

From Ironman Press Release
KALIUA-KONA, Hawaii- Peter Reid and Lori Bowden made it a clean sweep for Canada by claiming the men’s and women’s titles respectively at the 25th Ironman World Championship held in Kaliua-Kona, Hawaii on Saturday.
The event featured more than 1,600 athletes competing a far cry from the 15 athletes who first took to the water back in the first Ironman event, held in Hawaii in 1978. 2003 saw more than 20,000 athletes compete in 17 different Ironman events held all around the world.

Reid bested a field that featured five former World Champions and the bulk of the world’s top triathletes. The title was the third Ironman World Championship for Reid, who also claimed titles in 1998 and 2000 and has won a total of 10 Ironman titles, most by any male athlete.

The men’s event really came down to the run, as a pack of 10 athletes attempted to chase down Germany’s Normann Stadler who left for the marathon with a four-minute lead over the field. Reid, who left the transition area in third place, overtook two-time defending champion Tim DeBoom (Lyons, Colo.) and then Stadler, hammering his way to a total time of eight hours, 22 minutes and 35 seconds, to finish six minutes in front of runner-up Rutger Beke of Belgium, who recorded his best-ever finish at the Ironman World Championship.

Beke was second with a time of 8:28:27, with New Zealand’s Cameron Brown finishing second for the second straight year with a time of 8:32:02. Stadler held on to finish fourth in 8:32:47, while rising star Luke Bell of Australia finished fifth in 8:34:38.

Bowden claimed the second Ironman title of her career and much like Reid, used a blistering run to claim the second Ironman World title of her illustrious career. The win was also the 12th title of her career. Bowden used a marathon time of three hours, two minutes and 10 seconds to post an overall time of 9:11:55. Four-time Ironman World Champion Natascha Badmann of Switzerland finished second with an overall time of 9:17:08 with Germany’s Nina Kraft, who led for much of the day on the bike, finishing third overall with a time of 9:17:16. Badmann had claimed the last two women’s world titles, while Kraft was the runner-up one year ago.

Canadian’s also swept the fourth and fifth spot as Heather Fuhr (9:19:02) and Lisa Bentley (9:22:41) made it three Canadian females in the top five. Fuhr was the 1997 Ironman World Champion, while Bentley took titles at Ironman Australia and Ironman Canada this year.

More than 1,600 athletes from 43 countries competed in the event, with professionals competing for a $430,000 pro prize purse. Reid and Bowden each took home $100,000 for their winning efforts.

Live continuous web coverage, including race results are available by logging onto www.ironmanlive.com.

Top Ten Finishers at the 25th annual Ironman World Championship
October 18, 2003
Kaliua-Kona, Hawaii

Men
1. Peter Reid, Canada, 8:22:35
2. Rutger Beke, Belgium, 8:28:27
3. Cameron Brown, New Zealand, 8:32:02
4. Normann Stadler, Germany, 8:32:47
5. Luke Bell, Australia, 8:34:38
6. Jurgen Zack, Germany, 8:35:19
7. Faris Al-Sultan, Germany, 8:35:51
8. Cameron Widoff, Boulder, Colo., 8:35:59
9. Michael Lovato, Boulder, Colo., 8:36:56
10. Mika Luoto, Finland, 8:37:19

Women
1. Lori Bowden, Canada, 9:11:55
2. Natascha Badmann, Switzerland, 9:17:08
3. Nina Kraft, Germany, 9:17:16
4. Heather Fuhr, Canada, 9:19:02
5. Lisa Bentley, Canada, 9:22:41
6. Karin Thuerig, Switzerland, 9:26:28
7. Gina Kehr, Redwood City, Calif., 9:36:11
8. Deirdre Tennant, Kaneohe, Hawaii, 9:40:54
9. Kate Major, Australia, 9:46:03
10. Belinda Granger, Australia, 9:46:29