Keeping with the recent Ironman trend, the inaugural Ironman China proved to be one of the hottest on record, with temperatures soaring into the 90s and athletes dropping like flies. As with last weekend’s Ford Ironman Arizona, the race in China was transformed into a war of attrition and the two left standing at day’s end were Germany’s Olaf Sabatschus and Aussie Belinda Granger.

Sabatschus, known as one of triathlon’s elite “superbikers," actually won the race on the run, a rare feat for the German. At the start of the day Sabatschus had some serious time to make up after the swim, exiting the water over five minutes behind swim-leaders Mathieu O’Halloran of Canada and Matthew Clark of Australia.

As the top men began rolling through the hills of Hainan Island, huge gaps were forming among the top 10, with Clark leading the charge. McDonald, the pre-race favorite, suffered his first of two flat tires just before the turnaround and was relegated to almost 20 minutes behind Clark. McDonald fell victim to a second flat tire with over 10 miles left on the bike and actually rode to transition with a flat. Instead of surging to the front on the bike, Sabatschus chose to be conservative on the bike and entered transition two minutes behind American Timothy Marr, who overtook the lead on the second half of the bike leg.

As the men made their way onto the sun-baked run course, it became clear that Sabatschus was the most prepared for the heat. Halfway through the marathon, the German had already amassed a seven-minute lead and behind him the leaderboard was changing rapidly. By the time he hit the finish line in 8:52:14, Sabatschus had a 21-minute cushion on would-be runner-up Byung Hoon Park of South Korea. Marr, who was clearly suffering toward the end of the run, hung on for third, one minute back of Park.

Like Sabatschus, Granger had some serious work to do after the 2.4-mile swim. The Aussie exited the water in just under an hour, six minutes behind race leader Ute Mueckel of Germany. Granger began stalking the German from the moment she got on the bike and reeled her in by the halfway point. Granger, who prefers racing from the front, began pulling away from Mueckel and the rest of the field the moment she took the lead.

Granger hit T2 with a comfortable gap on Mueckel, which quickly grew on the early miles of the run. As with the men’s race, the leaderboard on the women’s side was turned upside down once the athletes began the run. Canadian Donna Phelan, who trains with Granger under Brett Sutton in the Philippines, proved that the Team TBB girls can really handle the heat, as she moved into second in the later stages of the run. Granger continued her stroll to the finish, crossing the line in 10:08:37, over 28 minutes ahead of Phelan. Britain’s Abigail Bayley also made up huge chunks of time on the run, finishing third in 10:43:11. It was the seventh Ironman win of Granger’s career and her second already this season (she won Ironman Malaysia as well).

Ironman China presented by K-Swiss
Haikou, Hainan, China
April 20, 2008
2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run

Men
1. Olaf Sabatschus (GER) 8:52:14
2. Byung Hoon Park (KOR) 9:13:15
3. Timothy Marr (USA) 9:14:17
4. Chris McDonald (AUS) 9:24:17
5. Justin Hurd (USA) 9:26:35

Women
1. Belinda Granger (AUS) 10:08:37
2. Donna Phelan (CAN) 10:37:11
3. Abigail Bayley (GBR) 10:43:11
4. Belinda Harrison (AUS) 10:48:24
5. Brigitte Niederberger (SUI) 11:07:41