The guy runs a 2:42, comes from behind to end up in second and gets no credit at all… it’s tough being a runner in IM-world, you’re more likely to place and win races, but no public and media apreciation, no lucrative bike contracts… it’s tough.
i was just telling a guy this morning that im is usually won on the run (at least that’s my opinion). seems to happen in hawaii every year. couple times we’ve seen other venues won on the bike… steve larsen, mccormack…
i think of cameron brown as a runner first.
“We now know that Cameron Brown pulled out a remarkable 2:47:37 to wipe out an 18 minute deficit off the bike”
by the way bjorn… i bow to you for your effort. hero.
100% agreed. That ride was amazing. The one question I have is: What did Baron say to you when he passed you on the run?
Khai…uh… this was meant to be a Bjorling thread! LOL…
Anyway, of course I didn’t mean to belittle Bjorn’s performance, I was just criticizing how people in general look at IM racing.
d’oh! Well, Clas has 100% respect any day of the week. If you recall Gordo’s early stories of being able to “punish him at will”, it would seem that he turned the tables over th course of a few years and has become quite the runner/cyclist.
His name says it all… 100% Clas(s) (I know, boo… hisss…)
Clas and Cameron were the predators at IM NZ. They ate up the victims in their sites. Clas was clutch enough to pull off the IM NZ run record with the stellar 2:42 WOW!!
100% agreed. That ride was amazing. The one question I have is: What did Baron say to you when he passed you on the run?
“Keep it goin” in swedish.
Absolutely incredible. I was facinated waiting for results on the Ironmanlive update page. What an awesome placing by epic campers. It was the first time I’ve ever rooted for anyone in triathlon, it was like having a home team after hearing the epic camp stories and seeing their posts on here.
The amazing thing to me is that Clas swam in 59:00 and still got second. That’s 9 minutes he gave up to Cameron, and he finished 6 back. This guy could really be something (not to say he isn’t already, I’m talking world champion something) if he gets his swim down in the low 50’s. I didn’t realize he was only 25, it is going to be great watching Clas and Bjorn duke it out in the next few years. What are they putting in the water in Sweden?
Does anyone know the youngest person to win a high profile Ironman event? Seems like they both are still early in their development strictly based on their ages. If true, that suggests they’ve got a good bit to go before they really hit their peaks. Scary.
I’ll give loads of credit to Clas, that was one hell of a run. All those guys were amazing and showed lots of heart and guts. Incredible.
The other thing I was thinking about looking at the splits was the balance that Brown had. It’s another example of how triathlon is a race in itself, and not a bike race or running race. That’s where the challenge is, being good at all three events, and that’s why I love the sport so much, there is always something to work on. Had it not been for a “slow swim” (relative to the top pros), or a “slow run” (relative to the top pros), either Clas or Bjorn would have won. By saying that, I’m not trying to critize them, on the contrary I think Cameron deserves a ton of credit for being good at all three in the same respect that Bjorn had an amazing swim and bike, and Clas had a superhuman run. Plain and simple, Cameron’s the better triathlete. I’m extremely impressed with all three of those athletes.
I saw IM NZ on the weekend…it was noticeable after the first 2km that Clas was running faster than Can Brown and certainly faster than Andersson…It was only q question of whether he could hang on to that speed and he certainly appeared to do so…