Guestbook

Any comments on this report?

Click here to write something in the guestbook

Click here to read in the guestbook

Rutger finishes second after McCormack!
Strands at 19 seconds after breathtaking rush forward!

As usual, the Wildflower half triathlon attracts a very strong field of participants.  Rutger will have to compete with Ironman 2003 World Champion Peter Reid,  two-fold Wildflower winner Chris McCormack, Craig Walton, Luke Bell, Miles Stewart, Simon Lessing, Cameron Widoff, Chris Lieto, Bjorn Andersson, Thomas Evans, Peter Clode, Tim Luchinski, Bryan Rhodes,  and more.

Canadian Tom Evans attacks immediately after the swimming start, followed by McCormack and Bell. Simon Lessing and  Miles Stewart do not appear at the start, while Craig Walton cannot participate because of illness. Soon, Rutger has to let Peter Reid swim away. From then on he remains alone in his pursuit of the favorites. Finally he finishes 23rd and looses 1'45" on "Macca" and Bell, and  43" on Reid.  Not  really a problem, because, last Thursday, Rutger already had expressed his feeling that the swimming leg would not be decisive in view of the very tough bike and run circuits.

The hills around the lake do not give any protection against a burning sun and provide the ideal surrounding for a difficult bike leg. Rutger starts his pursuit and systematically moves forward.  However, in front of him, McCormack also starts an offensive. He doesn't manage to move into the leadership position (Evans, Remaly and Chris Lieto remain in front of him), but he arrives in the transition zone with a bonus of  2'30" on Luke Bell and of 3' on Rutger and Peter Reid, who arrive together as numbers 6 and 7.

Rutger starts his run leg furiously. After the race it becomes clear that he finished the whole 21 km at an average speed of 3'42" per kilometer (5'56" a mile). Evans, Remaly and Chris Lieto are soon left behind. The same happens then with Reid and Bell, after which Rutger can start chasing McCormack.  His delay diminishes systematically, but unfortunately the last mile goes quite downhill, which allows McCormack, who feels Rutger is coming, to survive with a tiny little 19" of advance. Luke Bell finishes third, 2'40 after Rutger en Peter Reid fourth at 3 minutes. 

After the Half  Ironman California, where he finished third anyway,  Rutger was not pleased with his run and bike performances. However, here in Lake San Antonio, he is quite satisfied: despite missing the victory in an Ironman once again,  his second place in this very difficult race with a dream-team of competitors, confirms  that he is now part of the world top in long distance triathlon!

The teammates of the Arinso-Bik triathlon team have all done very well. Stijn Demeulemeester wins the race in the non-pro category and his overall finishing time would have put him in 8th position in the pro race.
Gerrit De Pauw gets a penalty of  12' for a yet unknown reason, but nevertheless wins in the 18-24 year age-group. Without the penalty, his finishing time would have given him the 15th position in the pro race.

Sofie Geeraerts, Rutger Beke's wife, finishes in her first half triathlon ever. She takes the 18th position in her age-group on a total of 80 participants, which is much better than expected. Her next big objective his to finish her first full distance triathlon in July, when she will start in the Ironman Germany.

PRO Results  Wildflower Half Ironman 2004