Poulat and Collonge take out Ironman 70.3 Pays d’Aix

It was French domination as Stephane Poulat  and Jeanne Collonge took out the first  Ironman 70.3 Pays d’Aix. The pre-race favourites did not disappoint and ensured the red white and blue adorned the podium on a rainy French day.

Daniel Halksworth of Britain was first out of the swim at Lake Peyrolle  in 19: 57 with a French trio of Stéphane Poulat, Sylvain Sudrie and Julien Loy exiting within 7 secs. In the woman’s race it was no surprise to see  Johanna Daumas (FRA)out of the water first  , followed closely by Jeanne Collonge (FRA), Erika Csomor (HUN) and Juliette Benedicto (FRA).

The 90k bike leg saw the competitors take in the  9 villages of the Pays d’Aix, though it is unlikely they were taking much time to concentrate on their surrounds. The lead group did not really change on the bike with Stéphane Poulat being the first into T2 posting a time of 02: 40: 49,  followed  within 3 secs by Sylvain Sudrie and François Chabaud (FRA)  with Julien Loy  less than three minutes down.

Jeanne Collonge was the first of the woman off the bike in  03: 03: 29,   followed closely by Johanna Daumas  (less than a minute down)  and Regula Rohrbach (SUI)  30 secs  later with Erika Csomor rounding out the lead group in  03: 05: 33.

With the weather finally improving the tough ‘undulating’  run course took the athletes through the city of Aix en Provence and the Park of the Torse. Stéphane Poulat starting in third position behind Sylvain Sudrie and Francois Chabaud, took the lead on the third lap and never relinquished it. He finished in 3:49:43, followed by Sylvain Sudrie in 3:50:57 and Julien Loy, who made a nice  come back  for the third place in 3:51:04.

An emotional Jeanne Collonge took out the woman’s race in 4:17:42, followed by Johanna Daumas in 4:24:20 and Erika Csomor in 4:26:35.

Males Podium
1/ Stéphane Poulat (FRA) 00 :19 :58; 02 :18 :01;  01 :07 :23; FINISH 03 :49 :43
2/ Sylvain Sudrie (FRA)   00 :19 :59; 02 :18 :11; 01 :08 :36 FINISH 03 :50 :57
3/ Julien Loy (FRA)  00 :20 :04; 02 :20 :10; 01 :05 :56 FINISH 03 :51 :04

Females Podium
1/ Jeanne Collonge (FRA)  00 :23 :29; 02 :36 :33; 01 :12 :21 FINISH 04 :17 :42
2/ Johanna Daumas (FRA)  00 :21 :10; 02 :39 :52; 01 :18 :33 FINISH 04 :24 :20
3/ Erika Csomor (HUN)  00 :23 :35; 02 :37 :59; 01 :19 :27 FINISH 04 :26 :35