The Spanish Marbella welcome quite some Belgians in the Ironman 70.3 race, both pro and AG. Kenneth Vandendriesche came 8th, Alexandra Tondeur 6th.
Three Belgian men were to be found in the pro wave: Kenneth Vandendriessche, Sven Van Luyck and Innerme CEO Dirk Baelus. Kenneth was the first Belgian to exit the water in 27th, following 2 minutes behind leader Daniel Baekkegard). Van Luyck followed on his feet. Kenneth started his signature bike showdown and managed to start the run in 14th place, hopping over the competition on the run and finishing in 8th. Van Luyck battered himself in the top 20 on the bike, but let it slip on the run, finishing in 22nd. Dirk Baelus came 41st. David McNamee won with photofinish from Chris Leiferman. Andreas Dreitz came third.
The female race was colored by Alexandra Tondeur and Sofie Goos. Sofie would not finish the race, due to an injury obtained by a "collision with a drunken fan". The complete story is told in Belgian newspapers, who found it more interesting than IM Texas or WTS Bermuda.
The same went for Sara Van de Vel, who had to forfeit her half marathon due to injury. Her strong bike leg does get the hopes up for following races. She was sixth overall female when she left the race, Sofie Goos seventh. Alexandra followed just behind and was on track for a top-10 finish. She ran eventually to 6th. Laura Phillipp took the win ahead of Marta Bernardi and Daniela Saemmler.
Other strong AG performances came from Sophie Van Biervliet. 2nd in the F40. Charlene Ottevaere won F35 and Pauline Selleslagh came second in F25. Natasja Daniels 4th F45, Valerie Turlot 5th F50 and Sabine Leys third F55.
The male AG was colored by a fifth M18 by Yander Fabri, 7th for Danek Aerden in M45, 5th M50 for Erik Thijs and 8th M60 for Luc Nachtegaele.
Our partner Sportoase's CEO Michael Schouwaerts also participated, he finished in 8hr02'14.
Original article posted on 3athlon.be by Hans Cleemput on 29/04/2018
Translation by @T0v3