Australian Triathlete Chris McCormack Heads Field in the 2010 Ochsner Ironman 70.3 Triathlon in New Orleans

Big Names Race at the Big Easy

A competitive field lines up to race at Ochsner Ironman 70.3 New Orleans

With two former Ironman 70.3 world champions, a former Ironman world champion and a host of other top competitors, this Sunday’s Ochsner Ironman 70.3 New Orleans promises to be a spectacular race.

The men’s field for this weekend’s race is, in a word, stacked. Wearing race #1 will be former Ford Ironman World Champion, Chris McCormack, but he’s not the only world champion in the field. The winners of the 2007 and 2008 Foster Grant Ironman World Championship 70.3 races, Andy Potts and Terenzo Bozzone are also registered for the race.

Other athletes to watch in the stacked men’s field include last year’s seventh-place finisher in Kona, Dirk Bockel from Luxembourg, Great Britain’s Paul Amey and four-time Ironman champion Bryan Rhodes from New Zealand.

Highlighting the women’s field will be Yvonne Van Vlerken from the Netherlands. Van Vlerken has a number of 70.3 titles on her resume, including wins in Austria and Antwerp, to go along with her runner-up finish at the Ford Ironman World Championship in 2008. Van Vlerken won’t have an easy time taking the title this weekend “also in the field are Americans Linsey Corbin and Dede Griesbauer.

Corbin was the first American at the Ford Ironman World Championship in 2008 (fifth) and finished second at Ford Ironman Arizona last November. Griesbauer is a two-time Ironman champion with wins in Brazil and the UK, along with a number of top Ironman 70.3 finishes, too.

Also racing is Kiwi Samantha Warriner who has an amazing list of achievements in Olympic distance racing at ITU level. She will be part of a very competitve  New Zealand contingent.

Pro list:

1 CHRIS MCCORMACK AUS
2 TERENZO BOZZONE NZL
3 ANDY POTTS USA
5 CRAIG TWIGG GBR
6 BEN HOFFMAN USA
7 CHRIS BOUDREAUX USA
8 ANDREW HODGES USA
9 BALACZS CSOKE SUI
10 KYLE PAWLACZYK USA
11 CHRISTIAN RITTER GER
12 GRAHAM O’GRADY NZL
13 ALEX MCDONALD USA
14 JEFFREY CUTRER USA
15 BRYAN RHODES NZL
16 FREDERICK VAN LIERDE BEL
17 JIM LUBINSKI USA
18 DIRK BOCKEL LUX
19 DAVID CASTRO IGLESIAS ESP
20 PHILIPPE KOZUB USA
21 SWEN SUNDBERG GER
22 PAUL AMEY GBR
23 JONAS COLTING SWE
24 BRANDON MARSH USA
31 YVONNE VAN VLERKEN NED
32 LINSEY CORBIN USA
33 AMY MARSH USA
34 JOLENE WILKINSON USA
35 SAMANTHA WARRINER NZL
36 HEATHER JACKSON USA
37 ANNE BASSO FRA
38 MEREDITH KESSLER USA
39 LAUREN HARRISON USA
40 JACQUI GORDON USA
41 DEDE GRIESBAUER USA
42 DEANNA NEWMAN USA
43 CAROLINE SMITH USA