Pete Jacobs wins Urban Hotel Group Ironman 70.3 Cairns 2012

Pete Jacobs led from start to finish in the Urban Hotel Group Ironman 70.3 Cairns today. He was  a step above everyone else today and it was more about proving something to himself with a super fast bike being his main goal.

“I am really happy with my win today, in the end, I wanted to dominate.”

“In the back of my mind, it was always to come here and really dominate. I have been riding a lot better than I have in the past and other than that I know my swim and run is one of the strongest in the world so now that I have lifted my bike I hoped that I was able to have that dominant performance, which I did,” added Jacobs.

The Sydneysider lead at every changeover, after the swim he had a good lead from McKenzie with all the other contenders flowing through.

Jacobs headed out of T2  with around a 25 second lead and rode well from the start. At around 30kms he was caught by ex pro cyclist Casey Munroe who stayed with Jacobs until about 22kms to go. Jacobs was riding faster down hill and on the flat than Munroe and decided to put the pressure on when he had a chance. After a short focus on pushing the pace Jacobs looked round to find he was on his own. From that point he never looked back.

“I’ve done some training rides with Casey in Noosa so knew he would be good on the bike. When he went off the front he wasn’t pushing me that hard so I decided to try and hurt him,” said Jacobs.

“Once we turned the corner on the bike and hit the Captain Cook Highway on the coast I was blown away, really was the coolest bike course I have ever been on.”

The effort and heat took its toll on Munro in the closing stages of the bike leg and Jacobs eventually headed into the changeover with a good 2minute lead. Munro’s efforts on the bike along with the conditions took their toll, fading on the run to finish well back.

Jacobs ran a very quick 1:15:18, cycled 2:11:50 and swum 23:56.

Crossing the line  in second place in the pro division was Luke McKenzie. McKenzie carried in an injury which forced him out of the Ironman race. Leaving T2 with a deficit of over 7min behind Jacobs McKenzie had his work cut out. In the early stages of the run he was struggling, falling back to 7th until he came right and got in to a rythym. He then went about picking off the guys in front until he eventually passed Josh Rix to take second.

“Everything pointed to a pretty bad race here today to tell you the truth. I gave myself a 20 percent chance of finishing this race today. My swim and bike has been fine but I haven’t been able to run since Ironman Melbourne so to get off the run today and feel really good is absolutely surprising.

“I can’t believe it, I got off the bike and felt absolutely terrible and built into it and all of a sudden I started to feel better and it all came together. I don’t know how I ended up with second place today, I am stoked,” said McKenzie

McKenzie lost one of his arm rests today which caused him a fair bit of discomfort and he lost a bit of leverage on the bike.

McKenzie ran 1:19:59, rode 2:18:31 and swum 24:36.

Rix wasn’t unhappy with third today after pushing hard on the bike.

“I got excited and chased Casey (Munro) a bit quick and was probably running a bit ahead of myself, it felt easy but I just backed off and got to about the 7km mark and knew I was in trouble.”

Josh Rix is having a solid year and is improving with each race. He went very well in Ironman Melbourne just over two months ago and today was second out of the water behind fellow Boradman sponsored athlete Pete Jacobs. Rix rode strongly and was well placed out of T2 but had his work cut out with some fast runners behind him. “I felt great at the start of the run. Too good. I was running faster than I should have been and paid for it at the end of the run with Luke getting the better of me.”

Rix ran 1:25:12, rode 2:15:04 and swum 24:44.

For Pete Jacobs this race was all about testing his speed on the bike. The bike course was tough and his time shows that he is on track. With Kona a few months away training is going well “I have been able  to get more quality training done this year than  previous years. I had a  small niggle that we fixed after locating a problem extending all the way to my shoulder from my foot. Once adjusted my foot soreness dissappeared”. Since moving up to the Sunsine Coast with wife Jaimielle he has been doing some riding with Casey Munroe. “I was looking forward to how this would translate to the race and how I would go against Casey”.    For the record Jacob’s wife Jaimielle has just crossed the finishline at Cairns  in a very respectable 5:04.

Jacobs heads off to the  USA to compete in a couple of 70.3 races before racing Ironman Lake Placid to attempt to validate for Kona.

For Rix this year has proven to be a good year. He heads off to Syracuse 70.3 where he placed thrid last year and is looking forward to having a good race there again.

Coming 4th was youngster Sam Appleton. Appleton said after the race that he struggled for the first 10kms on the run before finding his legs. The pace on the bike was fast and he felt this at the start of the run. Appleton has only recently come back in to the sport and is showing a lot of promise. He will take a lot away from racing a classy field.

Possibly the big result from this race was 30-34 age grouper Peter Loveridge who actualy posted the third fastest time overall but went under the radar due to the rest of the field starting behind the pros. Congratulations!

Men