POWERMAN UK 2003

Weather Temperatures = 12◦C with a very cold wind.

Powerman UK.Benny Vansteelant(Bel) and the Vicky Pincombe (Gbr) strong winner 

There was an early 8am start with the Elite Men and Women. 

Benny Vansteelant (BEL) , Jurgen Dereere (BEL), Martin Yelling (GBR) broke away on the spectacularly tough 12K run around the perimeter of the lake.  The Belgian twosome pulled away further on the final stretch and hit T1 in a blistering 40:56.  Martin Yelling was next in with Richard Allen (GBR) in 41:14. 

Benny Vansteelant had a slick transition and was away on the bike and worked hard to drop Jurgen Dereere on the 60K undulating course. 

On the major climb up Middleton Top (21K) Benny Vansteelant cruised the hill to put 2:25 minutes between him and his nearest rivals, Jurgen Dereere, Richard Allen and Martin Yelling.  Kim Neilson (DEN) and Wayne Smith (GBR) were closing the gap between the packs. 
Meanwhile the real battle was for the minor placings.  Kim Neilson worked his way up the field from 9^th place into 2^nd and hit T2 with Jurgen Dereere.  Martin Yelling cramped once again on the course at 40K and his race was practically over. 

Benny Vansteelant hit T2 with a 5-minute cushion and the order was then Kim Neilson, Jurgen Dereere, Richard Allen & Wayne Smith. 

Benny Vansteelant cruised the final out and back 8K run to win in an amazing time of 2:35:13.  Jurgen Dereere overtook Kim Neilson who hung on for 3^rd place. 

The 7 Elite women also started with the elite men at the early hour of 8am.  The first run was a close affair with Vicky Pincombe (GBR) leading the field, Ulrike Schwalbe (GER) and Ann Paul (IRL) very close together. 

They hit T2 within 13 seconds and Vicky Pincombe was first onto the tough bike, using her strength to break away from the competitors.  Ulrike Schwalbe was suffering from back problems on the tough bike in the Derbyshire Dales but she still  managed to stay ahead of Ann Paul . 

Vicky Pincombe hit T2 with a massive 8 minute lead on Ulrike Schwalbe and Ann Paul then hit T2 within 1 ½ minutes.  

Vicky Pincombe extended her lead on the final discipline to record the fastest second run of the day, and she crossed the line victoriously in 2:58:26. 

Although Ann Paul made a little headway into Ulrike Schwalbe on the final discipline, Ulrike Schwalbe finished second in 3:08:33 with Ann Paul in third with a time of 3:09:59 and Imogen Thornburgh (GBR) was fourth with a time of 3:11:01. 

For more information please contact www.powerman.co.uk

The next Powerman Event: 

Powerman Holland World Cup in Venray – 27^th April 2003.

Website:            www.powerman.org

Powerman UK – Sunday 6^th April 2003

Elite Men

1 Vansteelant     Benny            BEL            00:40:56            01:23:37            00:30:40            02:35:13

2 Dereere          Jurgen            BEL            00:40:56            01:29:14            00:28:15            02:38:25

3 Nielsen           Kim               DEN            00:42:54            01:27:14            00:29:20            02:39:28

4 Allen              Richard          GBR            00:41:14            01:29:48            00:29:48            02:40:50

5 Bjorling          Clas               SVK            00:42:41            01:30:45            00:29:21            02:42:47

6 Smith             Wayne           GBR            00:41:31            01:31:11            00:31:22            02:44:04

7 Blow              Andy             GBR            00:42:22            01:30:48            00:31:34            02:44:44

8 Retzlaff           Sebastian       GER            00:44:31            01:28:51            00:32:15            02:45:37

9 Jenkinson        Julian             GBR            00:45:00            01:28:29            00:32:25            02:45:54

10 Swaine          Peter             GBR            00:44:31            01:33:32            00:31:19            02:49:22

Elite Women