Four things we learned from Challenge Canberra

While most of us in North America are bearing down and preparing for lots of time on the trainer for the next few months, those down under are gearing up for summer and the height of race season. This weekend saw the inaugural Challenge Canberra event take place, featuring some interesting racing. Here are a few things to take notice of from the weekend’s racing in Australia’s capital city.

Els Visser is one tough cookie

Considering she is one of the few people I’ve met who’s survived a shipwreck, the fact that Els Visser (pictured above) is one of those athletes who just won’t give up in a race should hardly come as a surprise. (In Kona this year, Visser finished the last 35 km of the bike despite a broken pedal.)

A shipwreck changed her life … now she’s a pro triathlete

Visser managed to pull away from Fenella Langridge on a small hill just short of the finish line to take the win by eight seconds.

“That was one hell of a finish,” Visser said after the race. “It’s a really challenging bike course so I just thought be patient but try to push hard and I was getting closer and closer. It took me the first lap of the run to close the gap to Fenella and we were pretty much running side by side and it became a mental game. I gave my absolute best and I’m super pleased to take the win.”

Daniel Baekkegard overcomes obstacles in impressive style

Heading into the race, Daniel Baekkegard was the outright favourite – the Dane is currently 11th in the PTO world rankings and is a multiple 70.3 and Ironman winner.  Baekkegard not only lived up to that expectation, he also lived up to his reputation as a class act. Despite a crash on the bike that put him a couple of minutes back, he steadily worked his way back into the race, then pulled clear of is competition, Kurt McDonald and Caleb Noble, to secure a solid win.

“It was good to blow off a few cobwebs today,” Bækkegard said after the race. “I didn’t have a great swim and a terrible transition, then I had a crash going downhill in the Arboretum but after checking nothing was broken I jumped back on the bike and tried to keep as calm as possible. Then I just had to chase the front group and Kurt and Caleb did an amazing job on the front, really pushing the pace. When I caught them I kept charging. It was amazing to race Kurt on the run, he’s one of the young guns and it was awesome to race and see how eager he was to go out there and leave everything on the race course. It was beautiful scenery and a great course!”

Watch for a rematch at this weekend’s Ironman Western Australia

Visser managed to pull clear for the win, but the race in Canberra served as a fun preview for what we can expect next weekend as she and British star Fenella Langridge line up again, this time for a full-distance race. Langridge had a rough day in Kona this year, but appears to be bouncing back in style as she gears up for one last full-distance race of the year in Busselton. While she wasn’t able to hold off Visser for the win in Canberra, she appears to be on track for a solid day on the flat, fast Ironman Western Australia course next weekend.

 

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Challenge continues to try to make inroads outside of Europe

We continue to see new events added to the Challenge-Family calendar, including a return to North America with the new events announced for next year in Quebec (see below) and New Jersey.

It’s a hit, and there hasn’t been a race yet. Will Challenge Cap Quebec live up to the hype?

Thanks to its licensed-based format, the company has always been susceptible to its successful events heading off in other directions. (Ironman Cairns started off way back when as Challenge Cairns, for example.)

While the half-distance field was fairly small (221 finishers based on the posted results), the athlete feedback from the race appears to be quite positive. No-doubt Challenge hopes the event can become a welcome addition to the company’s Oceania races, joining the successful Challenge Wanaka race in the region.

It’s not going to be an easy go, though, with so many successful Ironman events in the country, but with a strong field of 23 pros, Challenge Canberra certainly got off to a good start.