WTC sent out an email last night stating that it has changed the prize purse rules of the Ironman Pro Membership program. While athletes must still be within 8% of the winner’s time in order to receive any prize money, the money will now be redistributed to the athletes who are eligible for prize money.
Originally posted here:
WTC Changes Ironman…
Armstrong’s technical advisor Matt Shriver gives the intimate details of his Trek Speed Concept. Lance Armstrong will be racing a Trek, of course, in his first road triathlon since 1990, and his Speed Concept 9-series frame has a few unique adaptions to meet the needs of the former cycling champion. Armstrong’s technical advisor and Trek team liaison Matt Shriver is in Panama to make sure everything runs smoothly this weekend, and he gave Triathlete.com an inside look at Armstrong’s bike. Armstrong completely overhauled his road time trial position for triathlon. The UCI, cycling’s governing body, restricts fore-aft saddle position, which is one of the biggest differences between many road TT positions and triathlon positions. Despite spending decades in a UCI-legal setup, Armstrong decided to move has saddle forward—“much more forward,” says Shriver—now that he is free of those regulations. Since Armstrong now has to run after getting off the bike, he wants a position that is “still a little bit aero but more comfortable” than his time trial position, recounts Shriver. Armstrong and his longtime consultant Steve Hed of Hed Cycling worked closely to find that balance. The pair made the dramatic adjustments to his fit on the road before going to the wind tunnel. “We had him on a medium Speed Concept on the road and that was the correct size to get him within the UCI guidelines, but being able to have a fit outside the UCI rules, it made sense to go with a bike that’s a little larger. We bumped him up to a [size] large for stability and for fit [reasons],” Shriver says. “He wanted to have his hands a little higher” so they used one of the more conservative proprietary Speed Concept stem pieces. He is riding the 45mm x 100mm option, which brought his aerobars up and substantially reduced the drop from his saddle to aerobars compared to his road setup. Armstrong’s aerobar extensions are tilted upward as well. “He’s adapted to a triathlete fit, for sure,” says Shriver. “He still has really good power and is still pretty aero but a lot more comfortable.” After initially setting up his position with Hed, Armstrong went to the wind tunnel and Shiver says they “did tweak a few things to make him a little more aero but still keep that comfort.” Although Armstrong often time trialed on Hed3 wheels while racing on the road, he is now using a Bontrager Aeolus D3 7 front wheel, the second deepest iteration of Bontrager’s new wheel line. Armstrong opted for this wheel rather than the 9, which has an additional 2cm of rim depth, because “even though the 9 is slightly faster, it’s difficult to handle a wheel of that depth in winds that exceed 9mph, so if you have high winds you’re fighting it,” explains Shriver. The Texan is fully committed to Trek and its family of brands, but its wheel label Bontrager doesn’t make a disc, so Armstrong rides the Lightweight Disc painted to match his Speed Concept. Shriver says they selected this specific wheel because “it’s stiffer, it’s as aero as [the other discs] and it’s the lightest.” Both wheels are wrapped with Bontrager’s Race XXX Lite Tubular tires. Armstrong is riding a prototype Bontrager triathlon saddle called the Hilo. Shriver says it has a “nice wide channel running down the center and a soft wide nose. It’s not quite as extreme as the Adamo. This is in between a road saddle and the Adamo.” The Hilo has a carbon shell, titanium rails and a synthetic cover. Armstrong has Speedplay pedals, presumably Zeros, mounted to his Speed Concept. He has a standard SRM power meter with SRAM aero chainrings, but Dave Bolch, one of Armstrong’s mechanics, TIG welded the SRM Power Control mount to one of the aerobar pad brackets. It positions the computer “right between his extensions just above his stem,” says Shriver. Despite using a triathlon bike in a distinctly triathlon-specific position, Armstrong elects to go with an “old school” hydration setup instead of using a bottle between the arms or behind the saddle. “He’s running a regular round bottle on the seat tube and one on the downtube. He wants to be able to drink as much as he can. We have a lot of bottles and different setups we run with our athletes, but you get a bottle on your handlebars with that extra weight up high on a technical course and the bike doesn’t handle as well. We’re going to lose a little bit of aerodynamics by playing it safe to keep him fueled and have a bike that just handles awesome,” says Shriver. The original SRAM Red drivetrain is on Armstrong’s Speed Concept instead of the new group that was unveiled last week . Shiver says they are waiting for new chainrings before swapping Armstrong over to the new components. He is also using unlabeled Zipp VukaR2C shift levers, which are built upon internals created by SRAM, and Bontrager RXXXL Aero brake levers. RELATED: A Conversation With Lance Armstrong
It usually takes a new triathlete at least four years to reach world elite status, but Gwen Jorgensen did it in less than a year and a half. Gwen Jorgensen was enjoying the best race of her life. Her swim and bike legs finished, she was running light and fast and strong. She trailed only one competitor, Great Britain’s Helen Jenkins. With the fourth and final lap to go, it never crossed her mind that she was about to make history. Seventeen months ago, she was a full-time accountant. Now this. Minutes after crossing the finish line in second place, Jorgensen remembered all the details, except the most important one: She had just won a spot on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team. “I remember turning around and watching the other girls, I remember [U.S. teammate] Sarah Groff coming in and I remember her crossing the finish line and going up to her and saying, ‘Congratulations, you’re on our Olympic team!’” Jorgensen said. “Going into the race, I knew the qualifications. I knew if I was top-nine or the first or second American, I would qualify, but during the race it never actually crossed my mind. I think I got into such a good zone, I was just racing.” That race in London was six months ago. A bigger race in London looms just five months away. When the women’s Olympic triathlon is held on the same course on Aug. 4, Jorgensen, 25, can only hope for a repeat performance. “Honestly, it’s still kind of a shock for me when I wake up in the morning,” she said. “It feels surreal for me. It’s something that keeps me motivated, though, and focused, which is amazing. It’s just a really good blessing to have this upcoming year.” Read more: Espn.com More about Gwen Jorgensen.
We can’t all travel to Panama for this weekend’s 70.3 event, but this clip from Triathlete.com’s senior video producer Steve Godwin will help you get into the racing spirit. More videos from Triathlete.com.
Four-time Ironman world champion finished third at the 35th edition of the Empire State Building Run-Up with a time of 13:15. Wellington announced yesterday that she would be competing in the race . By David Monti (c) 2012 Race Results Weekly , all rights reserved. Used with permission. Thomas Dold of Germany and Melissa Moon of New Zealand won the 35th edition of the Empire State Building Run-Up here last night. This was the first time the race was held at night, and athletes were greeted by a moderate snow squall when they emerged into the cold air outside on the 86th floor observation deck of this city’s tallest building. Dold, 27, from Stuttgart, won the race for a record seventh time. He climbed the 1576 steps in 10 minutes and 28 seconds, eight seconds ahead of Christian Riedl, a 31 year-old German from Erlangen. Third place went to Mark Bourne, a 38 year-old Australian from Canberra, in 10:55. Former Australian road running star, Darren Wilson of Adelaide, finished fourth. Dold is now holds more Run-Up victories than anyone, but did not come close to the event record of 9 minutes and 33 seconds set by Australia’s Paul Crake in 2003. Crake, a five-time winner of the event, was paralyzed in 2006 after a cycling accident. In the women’s contest, Moon won here for the second time (she also won in 2010). The 42 year-old two-time world mountain running champion from Wellington, clocked 12 minutes and 39 seconds, handily beating second place Suzy Walsham, a 38 year-old former middle distance runner from Australia who won this race three times. Walsham, who lives in Singapore, stopped the clock at 13:08. Three-time Ironman world champion Chrissie Wellington of England finished third in her first attempt at the race, and was timed in 13:15. Wellington had only entered the race yesterday morning. Read more: Competitor.com RELATED – A Conversation With Chrissie: The Decision To Take Time Away
New Orleans’ 5150 race will now be held on June 24, 2012. Two years ago, Ironman approached Bill Burke about purchasing Premier Event Management, his company that produced triathlons and other races across the nation. Twenty-one months later, Burke has his company back and is once again making his presence felt in the New Orleans triathlon community. “(Ironman parent company) World Triathlon Corporation offered it back to me, and I jumped at the chance,” Burke said. “I was able to get my company back and still manage all of these events. It’s a good move for both of us.” Among the first of his moves since getting his company back is to move the date of the Ochsner 5i50 New Orleans. The 5i50, an Olympic-distance triathlon, was to be held on April 22, the same day as the larger Ochsner Ironman 70.3 New Orleans. However, because of the 200th anniversary celebration of the Battle of New Orleans culminating that week, Burke said changes needed to be made. The city will have a Navy week celebration finishing that weekend, and the Blue Angels are going to be doing an air show on Saturday and Sunday (the day of the race) between 1 and 4 p.m. “Logistically, it made sense not to have both races,” Burke said. “But we have been working with the city on this to provide the best atmosphere possible.” Now, the 70.3 will start and finish at UNO instead of finishing in City Park, where Burke had moved the race finish to in November. With the air show happening along Lake Pontchartrain, Burke said it would have been difficult for the racers to finish in City Park, then get back to UNO during that time frame because of the amount of people heading to the lakefront for the air show. Burke said he has worked with the city to have all of the bikes off the course by noon or a little after, allowing the air show to start at 1 p.m. This also means that anyone still on the course at the time will be running and could possibly finish the race while the Blue Angels are performing above. Now the 5i50 event — a 1.5K swim, 40K bike and 10K run — will be held June 24, allowing competitors to participate in both races. Read more: Nola.com
