We gathered at the swim start for the third running of Ironman Louisville on the banks of the Ohio river in pitch black darkness. I had choosen Ironman Louisville over Ironman Canada for this weekend because I thought the heat and humidity were a better chance in Kentucky (wrong!) It turns out Canada got the heat this year!!! The temperature was actually perfect for racing at around 24 C for most of the day and clear blue skys.
The sun just started to appear as the gun was fired and we were off and racing at 6.50am. I was having a solid swim and happy with my pace as I knew John Flannagan would take off and soon be out of sight. I ran into a few problems along the way including smashing my foot on a submerged tree branch and getting a cramp in my calf with about 500 meters to swim. I exited the water in 48 minutes and 4th place about 4 minutes down of Flannagan.
As soon as I mounted my bike I was alone and chasing John. I rode at a good pace and was surprised that the time gap wasn't coming down. I kept hearing 4 minutes for most of the first half of the bike but eventually out of no where I was told I had hit the lead. I am not sure what happened to John, I didn't get to ask him? I came back into town with a 7 minute lead over a group of four including Raynard Tissink, Andreas Neidrig, Swen Sundberg and Viktor Zyemtchev. I was pleased to recorded the fastest bike split of the day in 4.41.10.
Onto the marathon and I was confident I had what it took to win. I knew Viktor would be the man most likely to make a charge at me and doing the math in my head I knew I would have to run around 2.50 as I thought he would be capable of a 2.45 (wrong!) So going into the 2nd 13.1 mile loop I had just under a 5 minute lead and having only dropped to 2 minutes in the first half I was even more confident I could win. I was feeling strong and still running 6.30 miles at this stage. Viktor then "turned it on" and over the next 6 miles ran 3 minutes faster than me to have me within his sights. We saw eachother at the last turn-a-round and with a 2 minute gap I thought I have to try and make a push. I gave it everything but at mile 23 he pulled up behind me. Running shoulder to shoulder I picked it up and ran with him till the 25 mile mark where he slowly edged ahead of me. The last mile I had nothing to give and I entered the finish chute to see Viktor raising the banner as the champion. I fell across the line 35 seconds later totally spent. I finished in 8.26.01 and running a new marathon P.B of 2.51.
I can honestly say I wouldn't rather it any other way. I thrive on this kind of racing and I really enjoyed the battle at the end of the marathon. I can say without doubt I gave it everything and that I had the best Ironman race yet in my Ironman career. I will take so much away from the race in Louisville and already look forward to getting back into training for Hawaii in 6 weeks time.
Thanks to everyone for there amazing support. I have a lot of messages, emails and phone calls and I really appreciate it!
RESULTS - IRONMAN LOUISVILLE, KY
| 1. |  Victor Zyemtchev | 08:25:27 |
| 2. |  Luke Mc Kenzie | 08:26:01 |
| 3. |  Raynard Tissink | 08:39:09 |
| 4. |  Swen Sundberg | 08:43:36 |
| 5. | Maximilian Longree | 08:46:31 |
