Another day, another step closer to Busso race day. As predicted I am starting to see a lot more photos of race bikes and the Busselton jetty in my social media feed. Things are heating up.
I had a look at the Pro field for the Ironman today which I hadn't had a chance to do until now. Looking like a pretty damn hot field this year, could be some good racing on display.
In the women's we have some big names coming out to play Steffen, McKenzie, Hufe, Christine Cross just to name a few, some athletes with good achievements and good recent achievements, not to mention lots of history with this race. What to say about Steffen and McKenzie, both have perhaps had quieter years in 2018 than in the past, but they have both also had successes, a win at 70.3 Sunshine Coast for Steffen and a third for McKenzie at Ironman Cairns, so the magic is definitely still there. That form combined with their impressive histories means they will be ones to watch. Hufe has had a pretty smashing year in 2018, a win at Ironman Austria and a win at the very tough Ironman Malaysia last month as well as a 13th place at Kona would indicate that she is probably one of the form athletes in the field. However, Busso will be Hufe's 4th Ironman for the year and so my one question would be whether Busso is going to be one Ironman too many. Time will tell, some athletes can race 4 Ironman in a year successfully, but it definitely isn't a given. She has been on fire this year though.
From a local interest point of view, it is actually a pretty quiet year in the women's field. Often we have a strong representation of local women at Busso, but not this year. Alise Selsmark (who we still consider local even though she have been living in QLD for a couple of years) is on the start list but won't be lining up due to a recent injury. Dimity Lee Duke is from here too, although she has been based out of Phuket for years. She is always one to watch, although she hasn't really managed to hit success in Perth, her ability can't be doubted and she is always in the mix.
As always the athlete I will be watching most closely will be local Perth athlete Emily Loughnan. I make no secret that I am one of Emily's biggest fans and so I am really looking forward to seeing her race at Busso this year. Emily's stand out win and then subsequent DQ at the Busselton Half in May this year really showed that she has the ability to race with the best in the business. Her 5th place at IM Austria (which Hufe won) despite battling a mechanical for most of the ride only re-inforced that further. IMWA was Emily's first IM back in 2015 and was a race where she came 6th overall in the women (winning her age group by over 30 minutes) announcing to everyone that she was going to be an athlete to watch.
Emily plays her cards very close to her chest, so it is always hard to know exactly how she is going, but she knows how to prepare for this race and what to do, so I am reasonably confident that she is traveling well, I certainly haven't heard anything to the contrary, which you usually would have picked up on the Perth grapevine by now. She has had a good chance to recover and build since IM Austria and so should be in good form. Her record on this course is very impressive, usually in the top 5 or 6 women, even when racing as an AGer, if she can equal that on Sunday then it will be a great result, however, I suspect we may see something even better. Looking forward to watching and finding out.
Should be a great day of racing.
Tomorrow we can have a look at the men.
No comments:
Post a Comment