Comerford, Bracht Win Ironman Florida Triathlon

By Shane Facteau

Scotland's Bella Comerford and Germany's Timo Bracht claimed the womenâ€šs and menâ€šs titles respectively at the fifth annual Ironman Florida triathlon, held on Saturday in Panama City Beach and surrounding Bay County.

Close to 2,000 athletes (1,995) started the event, which took place for the fifth time in Panama City Beach. The event featured a strong field of athletes, including 11 athletes who have won Ironman titles in their career.

Comerford claimed her second consecutive Ironman Florida title finishing with an overall time of nine hours, 26 minutes and 17 seconds, less than 30 seconds off the course record set by Germany's Katja Schumacher back in 2001.

The 26-year-old Scot overcame a slow swim time with a strong bike and held off Germany's Nicole Leder for the second Ironman title of her career. Leder, finished with fellow German Ute Mueckel finishing third in 9:42:24. Long-time Ironman standout Wendy Ingraham (Alamo, Calif.) finished fourth in 9:46:38 with Marie Danais (Canada) fifth overall in 9:47:29.

Bracht won his second Ironman title of 2003 at the Panama City Beach event, having won Ironman France back in July.

Bracht used a consistent day to post an overall time of 8:30:29, finishing less than five minutes in front of Andrey Yasterbov (Ukraine). Yasterbov posted the fastest run of any competitor in the field (2:50:31) to finish with an overall time of 8:35:18.

Raynard Tissink of South Africa finished third overall in 8:38:05, with Norbert Langbrandter (Austria) fourth in 8:39:34 and Christophe Bastie (France) fifth in 8:42:14.

Athletes were competing for 100 qualifying spots to the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii as well as a $50,000 pro prize purse. Race officials also announced on Friday that Panama City Beach would also host the event in 2004, with Ironman Florida set to take place on Saturday, November 8, 2004.

For more information on Ironman Florida log onto www.ironmanflorida.com.

About the author:

Medur is our go-to person for many of the essential tasks involved in putting on our races: race setup, our lap counting system and our website. An enthusiastic runner himself, he has participated in many editions of the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run in Canada and the US.

Dragila named Athlete of the Week

INDIANAPOLIS - Stacy Dragila has been named USA Track & Field's Athlete of the Week after soaring higher in the outdoor pole vault than any woman in history June 8 at the 2004 IAAF Grand Prix meeting in strava, Czech Republic.

The Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion, Dragila cleared 4.83 meters/15 feet, 10 inches to break her merican record of 4.81m/15-9.25, set June 1, 2001, at the U.S. Open in Stanford, Calif. Her performance is the best ever by any female outdoors and is surpassed only by Russian vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva's indoor mark f 4.86m/15-11.25.

Four-time U.S. champion Breaux Greer set an American ord in the men's javelin throw with his win Friday at the Bergen Bislett Games in Bergen, Norway. Greer won the competition with a best throw of 87.39 meters/286 feet, 8 inches, bettering the previous American record of 87.12m/285-10 by Tom Pukstys on May 25, 1997. Greer's performance is the second best in the world this season.

World-leading performances turned in by U.S. athletes over the weekend included University of Miami junior Lauryn Williams capturing her first NCAA crown by winning the 100m (10.97) at the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Austin, Texas. The 2003 Pan Am Games silver-medalist, Williams posted the fifth-fastest time in NCAA history. UCLA senior Sheena Johnson won the NCAA 400m hurdles women's crown (53.54 WL) for the second year in a row, becoming just the fourth athlete in NCAA women's history to win this event multiple times. On the international scene, Alan Webb's 3:32.73 in Ostrava also was a world leader.

Now in its fourth year, USATF's Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week and features the athlete on the USATF website. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week.

2004 USATF Athlete of the Week Winners: January 13, Dan Taylor; January 20, Jen Toomey; January 27, Erin Gilreath; February 3, Jear Miles-Clark; February 10, Alan Culpepper; February 17, Curt Clausen; February 24, Jen Toomey; March 2, Gail Devers; March 9, Allen Johnson; March 16, Sanya Richards; March 23, Phillip Dunn; March 30, Max Springer; April 6, Colleen De Reuck; April 13, Erin Gilreath; April 20, Maurice Greene; May 4, Tonette Dyer; May 11, Toby Stevenson; May 18, Sheena Johnson; May 25, Tim Seaman; June 1, Maurice Greene; June 8, Christian Cantwell; June 15, Stacy Dragila.

BEST MARKS WEEK ENDING JUNE 13
MEN

100 - 10.06 Tyson Gay (Arkansas) - Austin, TX 6/11
200 - 20.09 Tyson Gay (Arkansas) - Austin, TX 6/10 U.S. leader
400 - 44.71 Jeremy Wariner (Baylor) - Austin, TX 6/12
800 - 1:45.64 David Krummenacker (adidas) - Bergen, NOR 6/11
1500 - 3:32.73 Alan Webb (Nike) - Ostrava, CZE 6/8 World leader
3000SC - 8:17.93 Daniel Lincoln (Nike) - Ostrava, CZE 6/8 U.S. leader
5000 - 13:35.58 Mike Donnelly (Nike Oregon) - Victoria, CAN 6/11
110H - 13.12 Allen Johnson (Nike) - Ostrava, CZE 6/8
400H - 48.77 Joey Woody (adidas) - Ostrava, CZE 6/8
HJ - 2.32/7-7.25 Andra Manson (Texas) - Austin, TX 6/12 U.S. leader
PV - 5.81/19-0.75 Jeff Hartwig (Nike) & Nick Hysong (Nike) - Zaragoza,
ESP 6/8
LJ - 8.29/27-2.5 John Moffitt (LSU) - Austin, TX 6/10
TJ - 17.01/55-9.75 Walter Davis (Nike) - Bergen, NOR 6/11
SP - 20.11/65-11.75 Dan Taylor (Ohio State) - Austin, TX 6/12
DT - 60.24/197-8 Jason Young (Texas Tech) - Austin, TX 6/11
HT - 75.37/247-3 Paddy McGrath (Unattached) - New York 6/9
JT - 87.39/286-8 Breaux Greer (adidas) - Bergen, NOR 6/11 American
record
Decathlon - 8171 Ryan Harlan (Rice) - Austin, TX 6/12

WOMEN

100 - 10.97 Lauryn Williams (Miami) - Austin, TX 6/11 World leader
200 - 22.78 Stephanie Durst (LSU) - Austin, TX 6/10
400 - 50.32 DeeDee Trotter (Tennessee) - Austin, TX 6/12 U.S. leader
800 - 2:03.11 Kameisha Bennett (Tennessee) - Austin, TX 6/12
1500 - 4:10.65 Janet Trujillo (Nike) - Victoria, CAN 6/11
3000SC - 9:48.94 Brianna Shook (Toledo) - Austin, TX 6/12
10,000 - 32:01.17 Sylvia Mosqueda (Unattached) - London, ENG 6/12
100H - 12.56 Gail Devers (Nike) - Bergen, NOR 6/11
400H - 53.54 Sheena Johnson (UCLA) - Austin, TX 6/12 World leader
HJ - 1.96/6-5 Tisha Waller (Nike) - Bergen, NOR 6/11
PV - 4.83/15-10 Stacy Dragila (Nike) - Ostrava, CZE 6/8 American record
LJ - 6.65/21-10 Marion Jones (Nike) - Ostrava, CZE 6/8
TJ - 13.55/44-5.5 Vanitta Kinard (Nike) - Warsaw, POL 6/13
SP - 18.26/59-11 Laura Gerraughty (North Carolina) - Austin, TX 6/12
DT - 62.31/204-5 Becky Breisch (Nebraska) - Austin, TX 6/11
HT - 66.88/219-5 Jessica Cosby (UCLA) - Austin, TX 6/12
JT - 56.57/185-7 Katy Doyle (Texas A&M) - Austin, TX 6/11
Heptathlon - 5807 Jacquelyn Johnson (Arizona State) - Austin, TX 6/11