Jacobs takes Busso

Sunday, 04 May 2008 03:07

The great thing about sport is that you can take all the form and expectations into an event but still come unstuck. Ironman racing and Half Ironman racing is definitely one of the hardest sports in the world to predict.  And that's what makes this sport so compelling.  Pete Jacobs took out the Busselton Half Ironman this morning in what can only be described as a bit of an upset.  Jacobs, more known as strong swimmer than biker, put that tag to rest with a ripper performance to take out this year's race.  And his wasn't the only surprise of the day ...

The first surprise packet was Matt Illingworth, who at the tender age of 39, out-rode Mitch Anderson.  Anderson was expected to dominate this leg of the course, which though it's altered slightly from the full Ironman course, has proved to be a happy hunting ground for him in previous events.

The second surprise was Rebekah Keat showing up and taking out the women's race ahead of many pros, including Jason Shortis, such was her dominance. 

In the swim, Jacobs set a blistering pace, exiting almost 2 minutes ahead of his nearest rivals in Western Australia’s Sean O’Neill and Josh Rix from Victoria.  Peter Loveridge left the water in third place but once out onto the bike course, Jacobs was quick to stamp his authority.

The bike course at the Busselton Half Ironman has been changed to mimic the Ironman route, allowing athletes an opportunity to experience the course.  The change paid dividends for Jacobs.  As he had done in the December Ironman event, he led from the swim and built an unassailable lead on the bike, even though both Victoria’s Mitch Anderson, fresh from a second placing at April’s Ironman Australia, and Olympian Matt Illingworth rode faster than Jacobs.

Although Loveridge easily had the fastest half marathon time of the day, it wasn’t enough to stop Jacobs who crossed the line in 3:50:01.  Loveridge was 2:33 behind, followed by Anderson to round out the podium positions.

Queensland’s Rebekah Keat again showed her dominance of the Half Ironman distance in Australia.  Recovering from a leg injury that forced her withdrawal from Ironman Australia, Keat produced an excellent performance to hold off Claire Goldsmith and reigning Ironman Western Australia champion Charlotte Paul.

Belinda Brooks led the field from the water onto the bike leg, but it took Keat just a few kilometres to find her rhythm on the bike and she built a lead of over 3 minutes heading into the last transition.  With limited run training under her belt, Keat still maintained her healthy lead finishing 2:36 ahead of Goldsmith and over 10 minutes ahead of Paul.

936 athletes from around Australia competed in the first race of the Australian Half Ironman series.

Charlotte Paul stopped by to give us her take on the race - take a read.

Mitch Anderson also gave us some of his time to talk about Busso and how his day unfolded.

The firstoffthebike.com fearless prediction radar was (ahem) a little off for this one, well actually we got it hopelessly wrong!!  We might need to realign for the next big Aussie race!