Emma Pallant takes a fantastic 3rd place in her first Ironman in Klagenfurt (Austria); team mate Will Clarke finishes 3rd in IM70.3 Edinburgh
Emma Pallant finished 3rd in IM Austria after leading the race for most of the time during the closing marathon. Emma finished the race in 9:03:59. Maureen Hufe (GER; 9:00:32) took the win as Lisa Huetthaler (AUT; 9:01:47) crossed the line in 2nd.
Podium in first Ironman
Emma started the day with an excellent swim entering T1 in 4th place, just over 4 minutes from the lead. In the first kilometres on the bike, Emma settled in the big chase group to hunt down leader Weiss. Halfway through the bike, Pallant found herself in the lead of the race together with Hufe and Huetthaler. The trio continued to extend their advantage. In the final kilometres towards T2, Emma dropped the pace and entered T2 in 3rd place, 4’ back of the leaders. The BMC-Vifit Sport athlete started her marathon very well and cut down her deficit to 1 minute after 7,5k. Pallant made her move 10k into the marathon as she flew past Huetthaler and Hufe to take over control of the race. Emma continued to push hard and kept extending her lead. Halfway through the run, the British athlete built up a gap of 2’ over her closest competitors. With 10k to go, that difference grew to 3’. From that point onwards, Emma started to hurt and had to dig really deap as the first chasers started gaining ground. Eventually she had to settle for 3rd place. Completely exhausted and after putting up an enormous fight for the win, Pallant crossed the finish line in 3rd in her first full distance Ironman finish. With her podium result, Emma also secured her qualification for Kona.
An exhausted Pallant, looked back at her first Ironman finish: "Probably everything that I expected, nice and painful. I am really happy with my performance. I felt relaxed in the swim, kind of played it quite tactical. Out on the bike I was in a good group. I held on for as long as I could, but I had to let them go at 30k to go. So I had a bit of time to make up on the first bit of the run. I felt super good and strong on the run, but I really struggled the last 8 to 10k of the run. The support out there and at home was amazing, so had to get my head around it, wheel the legs on and managed to keep going to the finish. Got a podium for my Ironman debut, so really happy."
Will Clarke takes 3rd place in IM70.3 Edinburgh
Will Clarke took an excellent 3rd place in IM70.3 Edinburgh after being in contention for the win all race long. He finished the race in a time of 4:08:55. Yvan Jarrige (FRA; 4:07:31) won the race with Matt Charbot (USA; 4:07:39) in 2nd.
It was a positive start of the day for Will as he exited the water in 5th place, only 33 seconds behind the leading quartet. On the bike, he immediately closed down that gap to settle in the leading group of 5 athletes. The group kept riding together and extended their lead to the rest of the field. Clarke kept riding strong in the final parts of the bike and started the run in 2nd place. In the first 7k, Will managed to co-lead the race together with Jarrige. With 7k to go, the BMC-Vifit Sport athlete had to settle for 3rd place. He kept pushing hard towards the finish and his 3rd place was never endangered. Will crossed the line after 4:08:55, posting the 2nd fastest running split of the day (1:17:48). An excellent result for Will Clarke in his final build up to Ironman UK in two weeks time.
Ready for Ironman UK in two weeks time
Afterwards Will Clarke was satisfied with his race and how his shape is progressing towards IM UK. “Pretty happy with the result. It is always good to be on the podium. Hard to be mega excited about my 70.3 shape, but I feel really strong for IM UK in two weeks time. Lovely race, I had a solid swim, the bike was good and the run was strong. Enough for Ironman UK shape, but not enough to win a 70.3 today. Recovering well now and some last minute training for Bolton.”
