First Ironman, now José James: K-Swiss

First, K-Swiss partners with IM, then with kspace.tv and now with the man.

I can’t wait for José’s sophomore effort, Blackmagic, to drop. I know what I’m buying my family and friends for their 2010 birthdays/anniversaries/newborns/sex changes.

Playing with the big boys: Bruno Clerbout

Hometown favorite Bruno ‘Bruce’ Clerbout made a phenomenal Kona debut, taking 25th place overall with an astonishing 3:01:01 marathon. I have never seen Bruno this ecstatic. Way to put your name on the international triathlon map, Bruce. Ditto for Pieter Hélin (53rd place overall, as an agegrouper!). Here’s a hip hop mix to celebrate your achievements.

“Retüling” my aero position

Did the unthinkable this morning: took a break from writing and drove to Athletefitting.com near Aalst to have my optimal aero position “retüled”. Shop owner John – a former amateur cyclist turned amateur triathlete – is Belgium’s first qualified Retül fitter. Retül brings 3D motion capture to bikefitting. It is a very accurate, tech-heavy and transparent method for establishing optimal cycling position. Costs a pretty penny, too.

The protocol works like this: following a brief intake interview, motion detection markers are attached to your wrist, elbow, shoulder, hip, knee, ankle and foot. Two cameras then record your pedal stroke. This allows for very accurate, dynamic measurements of cycling biomechanics. For instance, in the video below, you can see that my right leg pedal stroke is slightly irregular in comparison to my left leg pedal stroke (which is perfectly horizontal).

In the end, your measurements are translated into an optimal aero position. Here is the before and after video. The top frame mirrors the bike position I had during my LD debut in Brasschaat. Notice the more compact, relaxed bike fit in the bottom frame.

Rutger Beke hurts foot, breaks Zipp wheel

Poor Rutger, just five weeks before *the* race, he slips off his pedal while mounting his Ridley while storming out of T1 during yesterday’s Zwintriatlon. The result: deep flesh wounds caused by broken Zipp spokes, requiring immediate surgery. He may have to forfeit Hawaii. Ai ai. Say it ain’t so, Rutger. Really wanna see you shine in Kona.

[H/T: 3athlon.be, picture by Annick Caneele]

Belgians are of two physical types

Having tossed me this personal-narrative bone, van Lierde strips down to his swimsuit. The Belgians, it has been said, are of two distinct physical types: the ample, rosy burghers famously depicted by Rubens, and the wraithlike subjects of van Gogh. Stomping around in rubber boots, complacently hosing down the pool deck, Damien van Houck appears pure Rubens. Lean and rope-muscled, his hair a severe black skullcap, van Lierde seems van Gogh to the core.

John Brant profiles Luc Van Lierde in Outside Magazine, November 1997.

A boy amongst men: Alistair Brownlee

I have just witnessed the coming of age of Alistair Brownlee at the London ITU Olympic distance triathlon. He won the race in a blistering 1:41:50, his fourth consecutive ITU win. Phenomenal. How he manages to squeeze out that kind of power from his 11-year-old physique is beyond me.

TriKa 3.0 race report: and the winners are

Bruno Clerbout and Sofie Goos! Thanks everyone for making our third edition such a success. We would also like to thank our sponsors for their support, feedback and cooperation. Special shout out to Trees & David, Wendy & Jerre, Ellen & Pieter, Lieselotte & Jeroen, the Pinoy fam, Joris, Kurt, the ITM massive and the two anonymous reviewers. Much appreciated.

Men’s podium (L-R): 3. Pieter Hemeryck 1. Bruno ‘Bruce’ Clerbout 2. Geert Janssens

Bruce meets the press. I wasn’t able to shoot the women’s podium, alas. My apologies, ladies. Complete results, clickiddy-click here (overall) and here (waves).

More media coverage:

• 3athlon.be (article – pictures)
• Het Nieuwsblad (race preview, race report, interview)
• RingTV race report (youtube)
• Blogs: Mario Appermans – Pieter Hemeryck – Pascal Huys – Atriac – WTT

TriKa 3.0 race preview

A grand total of 210 men, 24 women and 14 relay teams are registered to compete in TriKa’s third annual Olympic distance triathlon in Kapelle-op-den-Bos on Saturday July 25 (5:00pm). That adds up to 276 athletes, a new record. This is also the first year we’re adopting – by popular demand and thanks to some political goodwill – a non-drafting format.

Quick picture of the transition area and VIP area

Here are the race favorites:

Women:
1. Sofie Goos (currently Belgium’s top female triathlete, TriKa 2.0 winner)
2. Alexandra Tondeur (up and coming race talent)
3. Joke Coysman (consistent talent)

Men:
1. Bruno Clerbout (IM Hawaii qualified and local favorite)
2. Thierry Verbinnen (perennial top performer – gifted swimmer and cyclist) => injured
2. Hannes Cool (young gun, hungry and talented)
3. Luc Huntjes (former Dutch triathlon icon, now unretired again)

See you at the race!

A few of my favorite things in Melbourne

Fitzroy and Collingwood are two suburbs in Melbourne, Australia. If you tire of the hustle & bustle of CBD, head on over to these neighborhoods for your fill of people watching, fine dining, designer shopping, street art, art galleries and wine bars. All very open-minded and soulful.

Brunswick Street is art with a capital A.

Throwback Flandrien jersey @ BSC

Dr Follicles barber shop on Gertrude Street

Fine dining @ Cavallero on Smith Street

Breakfast (Bircher muesli!) @ Marios – an institution in Melbourne

Wine tasting @ St Jude’s Cellars

Kelly Thompson exhibit @ Gorker Art gallery

Fitzroy swimming pool – a triathlete’s dream: a 10 lane, outdoor heated 50m pool, with inside bike racks, sauna and steam room. Open year round. Sigh.

Vanhoenacker fourpeats at IM Austria

5-time IM winner Marino Vanhoenacker is well on his way to breaking to magical 8-hour barrier at IM Klagenfurt. He’s a 3 time winner in Austria and needs a sub 2:48:36 marathon to go sub-8 hours. He ran a 2:45:12 marathon in 2008.

Newscast:

• 1:40pm: Ironman’s live coverage has more network issues than Sarah Palin
• 1:42pm: Marino is now past the 20.5km marker and still on sub-8h pace
• 1:43pm: I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but I’d love to try my hand at running a marathon
• 1:46pm: I’d never thought I’d write this, but I’d love to try my chances at running an Ironman
• 1:47pm: Did I just write that?
• 1:48pm: Kärnten IM Austria cut-off times

Swim cut off: 2h 20min (wetsuit allowed)
Bike cut off: 10h 30min after Start of the race
Run cut off: 17h after Start of the race

• 1:50pm Marino’s lead is growing: The next three men through the 20.5k mark were South African James Cunnama with a 13:58 deficit, Stephen Bayliss who was 8 seconds behind him and Bernhard Hiebl, 36 seconds further back.
• 1:52pm 3800m swim – 180km bike – 42km195 run. Can’t quite get my mind around it.
• 1:55pm You swim in Wörther lake – not too shabby at all

• 1:58pm The bike leg is a rolling two-loop course. I’m blogging myself into this.
• 1:59pm Two 90km loops. Aid stations every 20kms. Still sounds insane though.
• 2:00pm “The run distance is completely flat and leads from the transition area along the north shore of the Wörthersees to the turning point to Krumpendorf. After the turn the course leads to Klagenfurter city where you are running around Klagefurt’s landmark the “Lindwurm”.”
• 2:01pm Marino is en fuego! He’s just gone through the 26.7k point at Krumpendorf in 6:55:55. In other words, he has 1:04 left to cover 15.5kms. His sub 8h window is closing rapidly. Close call.
• 2:09pm Coach, if you’re reading this, feel free to laugh out loud.
• 2:11pm Meanwhile at IM Frankfurt, Chris McCormack and Eneko Llanos are running side by side through the 31.5 km mark. This is shaping up to be quite a triathlon racing weekend.
• 2:28pm At IM Frankfurt, Timo Bracht has taken over the lead. Chasing him are Eneko Llanos and Chris McCormack, who was battling cramps but seems to be running at full speed again
• 2:32pm At IM Austria, live coverage is down again. Another network timeout.
• 2:33pm And we’re back. Vanhoenacker 7:20:23,6 at km 32,6! How on earth does he do this? 9.6km in 39 minutes looks realistic. For him at least.
• 2:40pm The men at IM Frankfurt through 39.2km. Leading the men is Timo Bracht (#3). Behind him are:
  * Eneko Llanos (#2) at 32 seconds
  * Chris Mccormack (#1) at 3:32
  * Andreas Raelert (#13) at 4:05
• 2:45pm This is unbelievable: Timo Bracht may also break the 8h barrier. With 3 km to go, he has 13:05 to break 8 hours here.
• 2:46pm For the record books: Luc Van Lierde holds the record for the fastest IM ever in 7:50:27.
• ***Timo Bracht wins IM Germany in a new course record of 7:59:00***
  
• Llanos is second in 8:00:05. McCormack comes in third.
• 2:50pm All eyes on Vanhoenacker now. Can he break the 8h barrier at IM Austria?
• 2:53pm “Less than 3k, less than 10 minutes”. Fly, Marino, fly!
• 2:54pm Let’s see if the video feed works. And whaddayaknow. It does.
• 2:55pm The crowd is dancing to YMCA.
• 2:56pm Sub 8h or not, Marino is on his way to win this race for the fourth consecutive time
• 2:57pm Marino has two minutes remaining!
• 3:00pm Marino wins IM Austria for the fourth year in a row in 8:01:38. What a race!
• 3:02pm Complete pandemonium!
• 3:06pm He’s walking (!) up and down the finish area and giving an interview. What’s next, a school run?