3 Cool (and 1 crazy) things that happened at Ironman Portugal Cascais
The European Ironman season ended in style with an exciting day of racing
Photo by:
Carles Iturbe/ Ironman
Cascais, Portugal hosted the final European Ironman and 70.3 races of 2023, with over 100 pros and 4,400 age groupers registered for the event. Here’s what we noticed from the big day of racing:
Ironman rookie Pierre wins
In her first Ironman attempt France’s Marjolaine Pierre had a flyer of a day, coming out of the water just under two minutes behind Spain’s Marta Sanchez before storming to the front of the race on the bike. She would hit T2 with a lead of 7:38 on Germany’s Anne Reischmann, then put together a brilliantly even 3:00:50 marathon to take the win (8:49:52). Reischmann would run a few minutes faster to take second (8:55:22), with Ireland’s Olivia Mitchell rounding out the podium (9:01:07).
“I rung the bell and I couldn’t believe it… it all began three years ago when I won a 70.3 and it’s amazing to be able to win,” Pierre said after the race. “I’m so happy! I was afraid about when I would start the run, so I tried to create e bigger gap [on the bike] before the marathon.”Â
Pierre is just one of the many talented French triathletes on the scene these days, and it comes as no surprise that she’d excel over the full distance. Earlier this year she won the World Triathlon Long Distance Championship in Ibiza, as did her partner Clement Mignon.
- Marjolaine Pierre (FRA) – 8:49:52
- Anne Reichsmann (GER) – 8:55:22
- Olivia Mitchell (IRE) – 9:01:07
- Emma Bilham (SUI) – 9:05:21
- Tiina Pohjalainen (FIN) – 9:08:29
Heemeryck gets first Ironman win
After a runner-up finish at Ironman Sweden last year and another as part of the stacked field that competed in Hamburg this summer, Belgium’s Pieter Heemeryck has been banging on the door of a first Ironman title for a while. He took care of that in style in Portugal yesterday, making up six minute deficit to Ironman rookie Jan Stratmann and then holding off France’s Dylan Magnien for a two-minute win. Even with all the bedlam the race favourite Patrick Lange was going through behind him in T2 (see below), Heemeryck’s time seemingly was enough to earn him the win no matter what.
“I’ve been 2nd three times, and today when I saw Jan running really strong, I thought I would be second again, but today in the run I could almost catch Jan and the other two were also running really fast but it’s an honest course and the best guys won today,” Heemeryck said after there race. “Today for me was a good day, so I have to be happy! Because it was last race of the season, it was the last chance to be an Ironman champion and the course was brutal so I was happy I could win.”
- Pieter Heemeryck (BEL) – 7:50:07
- Dylan Magnien (FRA) – 7:52:17
- Antonio Benito Lopez (ESP) – 7:54:01
- Patrick Lange (GER) – 7:58:51
- Thor Bendix Madsen (DEN) – 7:59:52
How’s that for a triple? 3 Ironmans on three continents in 3 weeks
We wrote about the impressive Jill Schoder Walker and her husband Dougin earlier this year when they completed a six week around the world tour that included six Ironman races on six continents. Cascais was the third of three weeks in a row for Jill (Dougin couldn’t race in Kona last weekend) that included Ironman Malaysia, the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, then Cascais.
Florida couple takes on the challenge of 6 Ironmans on 6 Continents in Six Weeks
The couple are working to add their names to the very select group of athletes who have done every Ironman in the world – John Wragg, Elizabeth Model, Luis Alvarez, Jeff Jonas and Holger Muller.
OK, now the crazy … two-time Kona champ misses his transition
The race favourite heading into Cascais was two-time Kona champ and Nice runner up Patrick Lange. The German came flying into transition at the end of the bike and somehow found himself in the 70.3 transition area looking for his bike. He figures the mistake cost him about five or six minutes, which the timing data seems to confirm.
Lange got things together and ran his way from 10th to fourth thanks to a 2:38 marathon.
Lange is a class act, and was quick to point out that the gaffe was a result of “a lack of focus” and took full responsibility. He was happy that he was able to get his focus back and stay in the race to earn that fourth-place finish.
“It was a really tough day, but that won’t overshadow the fact that 2023 was a very good and successful year!” Lange wrote.
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