Paul Consani was one of the three Bournemouth AC affiliated athletes putting the pedal to the metal in the Ironman 70.3 Mallorca
Just a couple of weeks on from her brilliant bronze medal at the World Duathlon Championships in Ibiza, Caitlin Peers was back in the Balearic Islands again. This time it was Mallorca for the Zafiro Ironman 70.3 Alcúdia-Mallorca and instead of competing for her country, this time she was representing Zoom Tri Club. She was joined there by her Bournemouth AC teammate Paul Consani, alongside five others making up the Zoom Tri Club squad.
Caitlin and Paul weren’t the only Bournemouth AC athletes competing in the Ironman 70.3 in Mallorca. Emma Caplan was there as well, representing the Myprocoach team.
The Swim in the 70.3 Ironman Mallorca began off the beach of Port d’Alcúdia
The Swim consisted of a 1.9km loop (1.2 miles) off the white sand beach in Port d’Alcúdia. The Bike course was a 90km loop (56 miles) up to the Lluc Sanctuary. The route heads through the towns of Caimari, Sa Pobla and Muro before working its way back to Port d’Alcúdia.
There was a big climb to tackle on the way putting the elevation gain at 850m. The Run was a flat half marathon length course along Alcúdia Bay, with the finish line at the beach area close to where the swim started.
The athletes prepare to take to the water
There were a total of 2,075 athletes competing in the race. Completing the Swim in 34:44, Emma was 839th overall, 121st female and 15th in the F45-49 category. The Swim is her weakest of the three disciplines though and she really excels when it comes to the Bike and the Run.
The same could be said of Caitlin really. She got through the Swim in 34:50 which put her in 857th place overall and 126th female. In the F25-29 category she was 27th.
Paul usually expects to be quite far down the field after the swim in triathlons. Then he works his way up during the Bike and the Run. He managed the Swim in 35:47 which put him in 1,029th overall and 117th in the M45-49 category.
Paul Consani emerges from the sea following his Swim
Completing the Bike section in 2:52:09, Emma was 372nd fastest at that and 15th best female. She was also 2nd quickest in the F45-49 category. That considerably improved her position in the overall standings.
Also working her way up the field on the Bike, Caitlin got round in 2:58:16 which put her 596th overall and she was 34th fastest female. In the F25-29 category, she came 9th.
Once he got on his Bike Paul started to work his way up the standings
Rocketing through the Bike section in 2:49:35, Paul 282nd overall and 36th in the M45-49 category. With that, he’d moved up many places in the overall rankings.
Since they’re all quite quick, the Bournemouth AC trio weren’t likely to have any problems once they got to the Run. In fact, they were likely to make even more gains. There was still a Half Marathon to go though and after swimming and cycling for so long, that wasn’t going to be easy.
Paul heads along the road during his 90km Bike ride
Having been going for 3 hours 34 minutes, Emma headed off for her Run. Completing the first out of three laps in 29:03, Emma had the second lap done by 59:33. That left just one final lap to bring it home.
Caitlin had been on the move for 3 hours 39 minutes before she set off on her run. Going out hard, she went through the first mile in 6:17 and the second in 6:25. Posting a 6:44 for her third mile, it was quite a quick first 5k.
The bike changeover area
For the next 10k she was going at roughly 7 minute mile pace, completing the first lap in exactly 29 minutes before having the second one done by 59:56. She slowed down a touch over the last four miles but that was to be expected in a Half Ironman. The fitness demands for that are extremely high.
On 3:35:42 before starting the Run, Paul set off with the 6:37 first mile before following it up with a 6:54 and a 6:55 for his second and third mile. For the next few miles he was going at around 7:15 pace. Completing the first lap in 30:42, he went on to get to the end of lap two in 1:03:12. That left him with just one lap to grind out. He was finding it quite tough though by this stage.
After the long Bike ride, Paul had to dig into his energy reserves for the half marathon Run
Reaching the finish line in 1:31:16 for the Run, Emma was 236th fastest overall for the Run and 13th female. That put her 1st in the F45-49 category. Her average pace for the run was 4:22 per km.
That put Emma‘s total time for the Ironman 70.3 race at 5 hours 5 minutes and 54 seconds, making her 2nd fastest in the F45-49 category and amazingly, after all that, there was only a 21 second gap between her and category winner Beatrix Cser of Hungary.
Paul runs along past the white sand beach
The club competition was decided over a points based system with athletes .scoring points for how high they finish in the different disciplines. Emma was the highest scorer from the Myprocoach squad with an aggregate of 3,493.7.
Completing the Run in an even quicker time of 1:30:54, Caitlin Peers was 206th quickest overall and 10th female. In the F25-29 category she was 4th fastest for the Run.
It was an excellent performance from Caitlin and she thoroughly enjoyed it
In terms of the overall picture, with the three disciplines plus transitions combined, Caitlin clocked a time of 5 hours 10 minutes and 13 seconds. That was enough to put her in 6th place out of 65 in the F25-29 which was a good result for Caitlin.
The Run was a real battle but Paul dug deep to get through it
Going on to finish the run in a time of 1:34:58, Paul brought his 70.3 Ironman race to an end. His run was 340th best in the overall standings and 42nd in the M45-49 category.
The culminated in a final finishing time of 5 hours 10 minutes and 40 seconds, so a very close time to what Caitlin produced. That put him 39th in the M45-49 group out of 301 competitors. Again, it was a very strong performance from Paul and one he will be able to look back in with immense pride.
Paul approaches the finish to conclude his magnificent Ironman 70.3 Mallorca race
Out of the Zoom Tri Club team, Caitlin was highest point scorer with an aggregate of 3,212 and Paul was 2nd with 2,719.7. Despite only have 7 on their team, the Zoom Tri Club were the 24th highest scoring team with a total of 13,864 points. There was a total of 382 teams being represented, although some of the teams only had one runner.
The team Emma was representing, Myprocoach did very well, finishing as the 9th highest scoring team with 22,146.2 points. They had 10 members in their squad.
The finish area took the athletes back to beach where it all began
It was great that Emma, Caitlin and Paul were all the highest point scorers in their teams and that demonstrates their prowess in the triathlon field. Even at an event featuring athletes from over the world, they were able to excel in their respective age groups and that was a massive achievement.
Emma already has a couple more local triathlons booked up which will see her competing in the Salty Sea Dog and the Bournemouth Triathlon. No doubt Caitlin and Paul will have some more in the pipeline as well over the summer as it’s that time of the year. They may not be in quite such exotic locations as Mallorca though, but once the UK gets into full summer mode, it will surely be hot enough as it is.
It was a race that Paul will reflect back on very fondly