Tobias Winnemoeller burnt up the double-marathon run course of the Ultraman World Championships on Day 3 in 6 hours, 41 minutes and 58 seconds to overcome a 54-minute deficit he faced going into the third stage, and won the 30th running of the event.
Tobias Winnemoeller burnt up the double-marathon run course of the Ultraman World Championships on Day 3 in 6 hours, 41 minutes and 58 seconds to overcome a 54-minute deficit he faced going into the third stage, and won the 30th running of the event.
Winnemoeller finished first overall with a total time of 23:28:14. Craig Percival, the leader after the first two days, ran a 7:41:45, seventh on the day, to take second overall with a combined time of 23:34:00. Tony O’Keeffe was the third finisher on the day with a 6:46:41 run and also held the third position overall with a three-day total of 23:44:29.
Defending overall champion Miro Kregar of Slovenia ran a blistering 6:27:30 double marathon to win the run portion of the event and moved into fourth in the overall standings with a 24:18:48.
The last spot in the top five overall standings for the men went to Peter Kotland of the Czech Republic, who finished sixth on the run section by clocking a 7:33:25 to total 24:27:52.
Paratriathlete Andre Kajlich chose to use an everyday wheelchair rather than a racing chair so that he did not have “an unfair advantage” over the other athletes. Kajlich became the first hand-cycle athlete to complete the Ultraman World Championships course by rolling to a run time of 6:49:31 for a combined time of 26:41:55.
There was a tight competition in the women’s field, in which Yasuko Miyazaki of Japan set a course record with a time of 6:54:57, becoming the first woman to go under seven hours on the 52.4-mile course.
Miyazaki’s performance rocketed her into first place overall in the women’s division with a total time of 25:40:49. Meredith Terranova posted the second-fastest run for the women with a time of 8:09:40 for a three-day total of 29:09:00.
Julie Shelley, who was the women’s leader going into the run, posted the third-best on the day with 8:11:03 to claim the second spot with a total time of 26:30:45. Rounding out the top three overall women was Kathy Winkler, who ran ub 8:40:43, for a total time of 27:17:36.
Sylvia Ravaglia finished as the top Big Island athlete with an overall time of 29:22:08 — good for 17th. Fellow Big Islander John Howerton followed at 30:17:38.
The trio of Stephen Cosgrove (34:42:27), Laurie Beers (34:43:14) and Dene Sturm (34:57:16) stayed close all weekend and all finished the event within 15 minutes of each other.
At the 12-hour cutoff mark, there were 34 official finishers and four who who did not complete the event.