Ironman Arizona Race Preview- Stacked Pro Field!

Amber will be heading out to Arizona for her last triathlon of the season. Possibly due to it being the end of the season or due to the large prize purse of $75,000, it appears that a lot of other professional triathletes have decided to also use this race as a nice wrap up for 2011. Also it may be a good way to get some Kona points for 2012 banked before the year ends.

 Here is the official start list from the website. I've tried to find all of these triathletes' websites but there were a few that I was unable to.

1. Teri Albertazzi-
2. Jackie Arendt-
3. Kathleen Calkins-
4. Leanda Cave-
5.  Jeanne Collonge-
6. Linsey Corbin- 
7. Erika Csomor-
8. Marie Danais-
9. Susan Dietrich-
10. Jessie Donavan-
11. Rebekka Essmuller-
12. Amber Ferreira-
13. Whitney Gracia-
14. Caroline Gregory-
15. Sara Gross-
16. Meredith Kessler-
17. Tamara Kozulina-
18. Nina Kraft-
19. Kelly Lijiblad-
20. MacKenzie Madison-
21. Donna Phelan-
22. Lisa Ribes-
23. Regula Rohrbach-
24. Jessica Smith-
25. Erin Spitler-
26. Amanda Stevens-
27. Michelle Vesterby-
28. Mirjam Weerd-
29. Charisa Wernick-
30. Kristen White-
31. Kelly Williamson-

 Holy Smokes! This looks like the Kona Start list.

 Here's a look at the course itself:

The Swim: Looks pretty straight-forward: a very narrow rectangle, triathletes will swim out a little over a mile, take a .1  mile left hand turn before starting about a 1.2 mile swim back to the finish. The water temp should be in the low 60's.

The Bike: Consists of three out and back ~37 mile loops which include a 10 mile climb in the desert before the turn around. Guaranteed to be exposed and hot, but likely not oppressively so.

The Run: As simple and straight-forward the swim and bike are, the run appears to make up for it in its tortuous and circuitousness. From the description, it doesn't appear to be a multi-lap course but rather a series of three distinct laps, an out and back, a rectangular loop hugging the lakeshore and a loop with a lollipop out and back. Again there doesn't appear to be much shade to be had so sunscreen will be a must!

This race is going to be FAST both because of the depth of the field as well as the course itself. Take a look at the results of last year. The TOP 11 women went sub-10 hours!

       1. Wellington, Chrissie   08:36:13 (with a 02:52:55 marathon!)

       2. Corbin, Linsey  09:05:33

       3. Cave, Leanda  09:13:50

      4.  Kessler, Meredith 09:15:01

     5. Wurtele, Heather  09:19:10

     6. Csomor, Erika 09:22:38

     7. Madison, Mackenzie 09:24:11

     8. bij de Vaate, Heleen  09:29:15

     9. Bromme, Uli 09:31:22

     10. Harrison, Lauren 09:33:53

     11. Kamenz, Annett    09:49:18

Most likely this year will be even faster as more pro's are vying for those 30 coveted Kona slots for 2012. Good luck to all athletes racing in Arizona!

Up Next: Amber: November 20th Ironman Arizona follow her at ironman.com; Danny: RI 6 Hour Relay with Acidotic this weekend. Growing the 'Mo for Prostate Cancer Awareness month.