Peterborough Half Iron Preview
50 Ironman Canada spots available this Sunday.
Over 650 athletes are expected to toe the line Sunday at one of Ontario’s biggest Half Iron Triathlon events, the Peterborough Half Iron. Dating back to 1999 (Sprint and Olympic distance events took place in previous years), this year’s Half Iron Triathlon has 50 Ironman Canada qualifying spots.
Racing for the second weekend in a row is St. Catherine’s Wolfgang Guembel, last weekend’s Welland Half Iron winner. Look for him to have a head to head battle with Caledon’s Sean Bechtel who finished ahead of him at Ironman Muskoka 70.3 and at the Muskoka Long course last year. Guelph’s David Sharratt and Caledon’s Andrew Woegerer should be in contention as well.
For the women, Aurora’s Paolina Allan and Nottawa’s Claudia Johnston are the favourites. They faced each other at the 2009 Ironman World Championships where Allan (10:19:31) came out on top of Johnston (10:44:04). However, Johnston raced at Ironman Coeur d’Alene last weekend so recovery might be an issue. You can read an athlete spotlight on Claudia Johnston in the most recent edition of Triathlon Magazine Canada.
