Challenge Henley 2011 Race
The week before Ironman Wales was hit by the tail end of Hurricane Katrina. This meant that there were strong winds and rain in the air but conditions could have been worse.
There was a strong field for the first time event -Aaron Farlow and Yvette Grice were probably favourites at the start but I had my eye on Stephen Bayliss to take the mens race.
The mens race was won on the run after Farlow and Bayliss appeared to suffer heavy legs after a quick swim-bike leg. Regular racer Vabrousek took the win. The nearest challenger to Bayliss for 1st Brit home was Dave Gardner from Team Endurance in a solid 8th position – scalping Xterra regular Sam Gardner who came in a disappointing 10th.
Yvette read the script and added another championship to her belt. She led all the way around although the end was reasonably close after second placed Charisa Wernick pushed her on the run. Yvette’s breakthrough bike leg anyone? Local pro Louise Collins came in third.
Extra respect to top overall age groupers at this race. Richard Howarth (35-39) recorded a great position of 10th overall whilst Jill Cliff (40-44) was 8th in the womens race and 64th overall.
Mens Pro Results
| Petr Vabrousek | 8:37:58 | 54:19 | 4:44:45 | 2:53:47 |
| Nicholas Peter Ward Munoz | 8:39:33 | 55:24 | 4:44:03 | 2:51:57 |
| Aaron Farlow | 8:40:10 | 48:09 | 4:43:13 | 3:05:05 |
| Stephen Bayliss GBR (4th) | 8:44:31 | 48:01 | 4:46:07 | 3:07:27 |
| Yvette Grice (GBR) | 9:47:35 | 55:19 | 5:32:05 | 3:15:01 |
| Charisa Wernick | 9:48:25 | 57:18 | 5:34:03 | 3:12:54 |
| Louise Collins (GBR) | 9:54:58 | 56:25 | 5:34:57 | 3:18:51 |
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