For the second consecutive time, Bert Jammaer has won the world’s toughest ironman race: Lanzarote. Wanna know how tough the bike course is? Only two athletes (out of a field of 1300) did the 180km bike course in under 5:00 hours: the Estonian tank Ain-Alar Juhanson (4:52:51) and former cycling pro Kai Hundertmarck (4:53:36). Bert was consistent in the swim and bike legs, but won this race during the marathon, holding off Olympic silver medalist Stephan Vuckovic. Congratulations, Bert.
Bert Jammaer wins the 2009 IM Lanzarote triathlon (photo credit: 3athlon.be)
For the record, here are Bert’s jaw-dropping splits:
swim: 3800m in 50:29 or a ridiculous 1:19/100m pace
(T1: swim-to-bike 2:58)
bike: 180km in 5:00:17, average speed 35.97 km/h
(T2: bike-to-run 3:28)
run: 42.2km in 2:56:51, average pace 4:11/km
overall: 8:54:03 (almost 6 minutes faster than in 2008!)
Allow me to celebrate Bert’s athletic achievement, with a fine selection of jazz, soul and funk breaks that captures hip hop’s soul: Zajazza’s Musical puzzle
Tom Van Hout 