Ironman World Champion Craig Alexander and Ironman 70.3 World Champion Julie Dibens proved once again that they are two of the best in the world. Alexander rode with one of the sport’s fastest cyclists, Chris Lieto, and ultimately ended up holding off Ben Hoffman for the win. Dibens, who was coming off of a disappointing performance at last week’s Rev3 Quassy Triathlon, dominated from wire-to-wire, ultimately finishing 15th overall.

The afternoon started with New Zealand’s Graham O’Grady leading the men out of the swim with a time of 22:50. The second group included American Brian Flesichmann and New Zealander Bryan Rhodes. Alexander and Lieto were fifth and sixth respectively out of the water, with Alexander holding a 50-second lead over last year’s Kona runner up. As is usually the case when Lieto races, he found his way to the front of the bike race. Instead of letting Lieto build on a lead, Alexander went with Lieto and the two ultimately headed into T2 within seconds of each other. Alexander quickly passed Lieto and worked to keep those with fresh legs behind him. Hoffman put in a challenge for the title, but was unable to catch the world champ. Alexander crossed the finish line in 4:02:01. One interesting thing to note is that Alexander’s winning time was more than ten minutes off of his winning time last year. This is evidence of the dramatically warmer and drier conditions today. Hoffman turned in a time of 4:02:21 to claim second, with Australia’s Tim Berkel finishing third at 4:08:08. Lieto ultimately withdrew from the race on the run course.

In the women’s race, Dibens took advantage of the fact that she was the only strong swimmer and headed into T1 with an 80-second lead over the next contender. Her lead continued to grow from there as she took to her strongest leg of triathlon, the bike. Dibens turned in a 2:24:17 bike split, a time that was nearly six minutes faster than her next competitor. The combined gap from the swim and bike gave Dibens a dominating lead heading onto the run. Dibens cruised through the half marathon to win in 4:25:14. American Linsey Corbin replicated her finish at last week’s Ironman 70.3 Kansas, finishing second in 4:29:22. Dibens’ Trek/K-Swiss teammate Heather Jackson rounded out the top-three at 4:34:58.

Ironman 70.3 Boise
Boise, Idaho – June 12, 2010
1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run

Men
1. Craig Alexander (AUS) 4:02:11
2. Ben Hoffman (USA) 4:02:21
3. Tim Berkel (AUS) 4:08:08
4. Matt White (AUS) 4:08:40
5. Jamie White (NZL) 4:08:56

Women
1. Julie Dibens (GBR) 4:25:14
2. Linsey Corbin (USA) 4:29:22
3. Heather Jackson (USA) 4:34:58
4. Christine Fletcher (CAN) 4:42:42
5. Kate Major (AUS) 4:44:50

Check back this evening for a photo gallery from the event.
Click here for complete results.

Written by: Joe Oakes

Bobby Roper was gazing out the picture window in the South End Club’s dayroom, watching a huge tanker as it glided behind Alcatraz Island, heading up San Francisco Bay to the Chevron refinery in Richmond, when he noticed that one of the Zodiacs (rigid-hull inflatable boats) was being readied for launch on the pier below him. “Oh, shit,” he said. There goes another one!” He turned away and snatched up a newspaper and a cup of coffee and plunked himself down on the sofa.

Roper, a retired California marshall, is a San Francisco swimming legend. In his time he set speed records for swimming from Alcatraz to San Francisco and across the Golden Gate Bridge. He was a member of the relay team that swam 26 terrifying miles from the Farallon Islands, the western corner of the great white shark’s “bloody triangle,” to San Francisco. The feat has never been repeated. But this morning he was turning his attention away from the people readying the Zodiac on the South End pier below him. He turned to Wayne Black and asked, “Is it the Little Mexican or Emich this time?”

The “Little Mexican,” Pedro Ordenes, is actually a Chilean, and swimming in cold water is in his blood. He grew up in Punta Arenas, Chile, on the shore of the Strait of Magellan, the next step north of the Antarctic Peninsula. There is a rumor that Ordenes freezes his oatmeal into popsicles for breakfast.

Gary Emich is an escaped Florida beach boy, a USAT-certified swimming coach and a retired post office official. Here is the thing about these two guys: They have each swum from Alcatraz more than 600 times, and they are locked in a duel to the death to see who will end up with the most Alcatraz swims ever before meeting the Grim Reaper.

Photo: Kurt Hoy

A few years ago I was present at a special swim when both Emich and Ordenes did what had never before been done: They completed their 100th Alcatraz crossings, and they did it together. To honor them, a new term was coined: “Alcatraz centurion.” They were partners in their glory and both knew that there would be more Alcatraz swims to come. Then something happened—their partnership turned into a race to determine “the baddest ass on Alcatraz.” Ordenes, a loquacious Latino who is a little older (both are in their 60s), suddenly became evasive whenever he was asked about his current total as the numbers mounted up. Emich, a cool customer used to dealing with postal Postals, responded by tweaking up the pressure. They were locked in what was becoming an unending and unbending battle: swim or die, or maybe both.

People started taking sides, and betting money might have changed hands. There were accusations that one of them was using swim fins, a definite no-no in an old-school atmosphere where wetsuits are still called wuss suits: “If you are wearing fins, you are not swimming; if you are wearing a wetsuit, you are floating.” Whenever one went out of town for a few days, the other would cram in as many Alcatraz swims as he could. Emich did five one day.

And they kept piling on the numbers—200, 300 and now 600. They were building reputations as studs and reaping the benefits. Emich, who is super-organized, got himself certified as a USAT swim coach, put on seminars and travelled internationally for Swim Trek, a British swim-tour company. Ordenes, a little more on the loosey-goosey side, stayed closer to home, started a low-key swim company that customizes swims from Alcatraz for small groups. His website said that he was a world record holder, but it did not elaborate. In truth, while both men are both good swimmers, neither of them comes close to being world class. (The big difference between the two of them is Emich’s supportive, intelligent wife, Peg, who tries hard and unsuccessfully to keep him on the straight and narrow. Ordenes’s family is in Miami and Chile.)

Roper walked away from the window, not wanting to witness one more swim in a seemingly infinite series of more of the same. “Bobby, it’s neither of them this time,” Black said. “I think it’s the Kid, Stevie Ray,” and Roper smiled.

Emich and Ordenes are hearing footsteps these days. There are a dozen younger, faster swimmers, all members of the South End Club, coming up fast behind them, and all well past the 100 mark. Stevie Ray is leading the chase pack, but there are others, such as Christine “Bucko” Buckley. A few years ago Buckley was swimming across the English Channel when a storm came up, buffeting her with gale-force winds and big waves. Her pilot advised her to come out of the water, and Buckley gave him a Bronx cheer, going on to finish her swim in a very difficult 17 hours. The English Channel Swimming Assn. named Bucko its inspirational swimmer of the year. For Emich, Ordenes, Ray, Bucko and the rest, Alcatraz has become an addiction, bordering on a religion.

How does it happen that they can pile up such big numbers when most people have to wait in line to get in just one Alcatraz swim a year? The answer is simple: They all belong to the South End Club. Instead of getting a normal night’s sleep, they are up at 4 a.m., at the club at 5, in the water before 6 and at work at 8. All they need to do is reserve a club boat and find a pilot to ferry them out to Alcatraz and guide them back. There isn’t a swim club in America that is more supportive of the ambitions of its rough-water swimmers; more South Enders have crossed the English Channel than any club outside of England.

These kinds of things don’t just happen. Someone has to create an atmosphere to make them happen, and the person who has had the greatest influence over the years is none other than Bobby Roper. He is the official guru of the Sunrisers, an unruly gang of South End swimmers who take pleasure in engaging in daily early-morning aquatic combat with ferries and the Coast Guard. And even though Roper may scoff at the centurions piling on numbers, his heart is as big as the bay, exceeded only by his enthusiasm for swimming.

But where did the obsession with Alcatraz come from? Blame me. Mea maxima culpa. Since the founding of the South End Club and its neighboring Dolphin Club in the 1870s, the two clubs held a monopoly on swimming from Alcatraz. Outsiders were not invited, and there were maybe 100 people making a crossing each year. In 1981, after my fun day of slogging through the Ironman in Honolulu, I said to myself, “Hey, we’ve got to do something like that in San Francisco, but not as long and boring, and a lot more intense. It will start with a very cold swim from Alcatraz and finish with a run across the mountainous and notoriously hot Dipsea Trail—twice. I will connect it up with a bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge.” Thus was born one of the very first triathlons on mainland U.S. soil. It started as a club event, and so it remains, but it has bifurcated and been copied into a variety of competing events—triathlons, swim-run events and just plain swims.

So, yeah, blame me. Over the years I have earned a few bucks (not many) and learned a few hard lessons. As of now, more than 20,000 swimmers have gazed up at my smiling face as my Team Alcatraz has guided them across those cold and roiling waters. But after almost 30 years, I’m getting ready to cash in my chips and walk away. Anyone want the job?

And, yes, we have had to yank more than a thousand swimmers from the water, some of them excellent swimmers who got in a little … ugh … over their heads. Nobody ever said it would be easy. If you are a mere mortal and not a centurion, approach with caution.

Now, if you have your eye on breaking that most-swims record, you are already more than 600 swims behind, but you have the rest of your life to catch up. Why not? Just call Bobby Roper or me for some quick advice.

Doe led the men out of the water and immediately began to put the heat on the rest of the strong field. The first string of men that lined up in pursuit of Doe included Brandon Marsh, McKenzie and Twelsiek. On two wheels the race shaped up quickly with Doe starting to ride away from the duo of McKenzie and Marsh. Twelsiek was closing and the only one of the three to be gaining on Doe.

By the time then men hit the thirty mile mark on the bike, Doe still held a 3minute 10second lead but had stopped putting time into the charging Twelsiek who had Mckenzie in tow. Leaving T2 the New Zealand native Doe still lead but it had been chopped to 1min45seconds (McKenzie) and 2minutes (Twelsiek)

When the men hit the turn around the shape of the race had changed as McKenzie had taken over the lead and was followed by the smiling German Twelsiek, sitting 15 seconds behind the Aussie. The fading Kieran Doe was now being pursued by a charging Brandon Marsh as the two men were now battling for podium positions. It took some time but McKenzie finally opened up the gap at the 10-mile mark as he surged, increasing his margin on Twelsiek and securing his win and a $6000 payday as the Hulaman Champion. Twelsiek followed less than two minutes later. Marsh finished in third and a dejected Doe crossed the line in fourth.

On the women’s side, Buffalo Springs Ironman 70.3 Champion Amy Marsh led out of the water and immediately put the heat on Kelly Couch and 2006 Ironman 70.3 World Champion Samantha McGlone. Similar to Doe, Amy Marsh gradually kept putting time into the trailing ladies and had opened up a two-minute gap on Couch by the 30-mile mark of the bike ride. The 30-mile mark also showed that McGlone’s race three weeks earlier at Ironman USA in Lake Placid was taking a toll as she kept losing ground to the two front runners. A hard charging Haley Cooper who had passed McGlone now occupied the third position.

As the women hit T2, Marsh had increased her lead to three minutes over Kelly Couch, seven minutes to Cooper and 11 minutes further back was a struggling McGlone. Gradually pecking away at Marsh’s lead, Couch finally took control just past the eight-mile mark and ran away to victory and her share for the $20,000. The rest of the money positions remained the same as Marsh held on to second trailed by Cooper and McGlone in third and fourth respectively.        

Hulaman Half-Ironman Distance Race
Washington County, Ore. – Aug. 16, 2009
1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run

Men
1. Luke McKenzie 3:47:07
2. Maik Twelsiek 3:48:44
3. Brandon Marsh 3:55:55
4. Kieran Doe 3:59:13
5. Damian Hill 4:02:26

Women
1. Kelly Couch 4:13:48
2. Amy Marsh 4:16:28
3. Haley Cooper 4:24:23
4. Samantha McGlone 4:33:30
5. Uli Bromme 4:34:14

For complete results click here.

Press release provided by Hulaman Half.

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Even with the difficult conditions, Tisseyre dominated the big leg. Photo: Sue Hunter

Written by: Magali Tisseyre

Canadian Magali Tisseyre looks back on her first Ironman 70.3 victory in Boise.

My first 70.3 win was an experience that will stay with me forever. It was quite a gift because it happened on my favorite race course. I got to savour the last hundred meters running through the outstanding crowd that animated the heart of Boise on Saturday.

It was a wonderful conclusion to a race that felt just like a dream from start to finish. It seems like the wonderful Boise race is getting better every year.
It all started with sunny conditions in the beautiful lucky peak reservoir. As we treaded water waiting for the gun, I remember everyone around me was laughing and smiling. The afternoon start seemed to have lead to a relaxed atmosphere… although those smiles may also have been smiles of relief as the water was warmer than it was for last year’s freezing swim session!

At the sound of the gun, we were off. I was not surprised to see Brooke Davison take the lead right from the start. That was good because I could focus on her incredible speed to bring up my pace. I soon found myself in a three girl group with Samantha McGlone and Annie Warner, pushing through the choppy water.

I was excited to come out of the water in second place and I was looking forward to the hilly bike course. I felt confident and had one thought on my mind: There was only one person to pass before I made it to the head of the race. I had a discussion with my Lifesport coach Paul Regensburg the night before the race and he had explained to me that there is something magical that happens at the front of a race and at that moment I had decided I wanted to have a taste of it. Samantha had a quicker transition, but I passed her on the elevated road across the dam on the way out of transition, determined never to look back and go for the magic feeling. I just had to look ahead and push as hard as I could. Right after crossing the dam, we headed down a nice descent, which would be the first of many on the bike course that takes you to a tour of the Boise country side. I decided to push until I passed Brooke and took the lead, that is when I felt all that magic and realized how once you have a taste of the lead it is very hard to let it go!

I worked hard, knowing I was in first position. I knew Linsey Corbin and Samantha McGlone would be strong on the bike course.

The bike was a solitary battle with the elements. It was a fight through the thunder, lightning, hale and rain. Everything was there to make the journey feel epic. I have to admit I was quite surprised to be alone in the lead, heading down the last long descent to transition. Was this for real? How close were the girls?

When, out of the transition, I heard I had a big lead, I was so surprised. I knew I was going to have a good run. I still didn’t know exactly how far ahead I was, but I knew Samantha and Linsey would be factors on the run.

But my dream scenario was there and I worked to follow the plan and make it a progressive run. I started to get worried when I found myself counting porta-potties rather than miles, and was afraid of the consequences of downing my favourite caffeinated gel. I decided I would have to elaborate a bathroom strategy. I was going to have to compromise for bathroom time and that was a scary thought. After hesitating through five aid stations, I finally made a desperate attempt at the fastest bathroom split of my life. I now laugh when I think that a 22-second split was recorded on that stop (definitely a PB). The turnaround after loop one was right by the finish line which was a great chance to resource, passing through the roaring crowd. There were so many positive people that had made it to downtown Boise to cheer us on in the rain. One man stood out, yelling on the way in ‘do it for a double cheese burger’. And on the way out ‘with bacon and extra cheese.’

That actually was an interesting motivational approach which I used to push up the pace. With one lap to go, I was still feeling strong and couldn’t believe it. It is at the five km mark that my legs really started feeling weaker and I had to concentrate to maintain my pace. I finally made it to the unforgettable moment: that final run up to victory. Making it to the finish line first is simply an indescribable experience.

What a wonderful race with my amazing teammate Linsey Corbin, who finished second. Nice comeback from injury!

I really want to thank my coach Lance Watson for the great work we have done together this year. Thanks to him, I shaved 20 minutes off last year’s time. I have been blessed with an amazing coach and inspiring new team.