They both grew up in the same small home town of Cegled, Hungary. And on Sunday, Jozsef Major and Erika Csomor shared the winner’s laurels 5,000 miles away at Ford Ironman Arizona in Tempe, Arizona.
Major and Csomor took impressive wins in very different fashion – Major in a nail-biting, come-from-behind thriller and Csomor with a definitive 11 minutes, three second-victory margin over two-time International Triathlon Union world champion and 2006 Ironman Hawaii winner Michellie Jones.
Major overcame a 14-minute deficit after the bike, and then blazed past race leader TJ Tollakson with just half a mile to go on the marathon to win his very first Ironman by 17 seconds. Major zoomed past six competitors on the three-loop 26.2-mile run with a race-best 2:50:12 effort to finish in 8:34:19 – 13 minutes off Michael Lovato’s 2006 race record.
Major’s last minute heroics put an exclamation point on a great men’s race in which the lead was exchanged half a dozen times and the first four competitors finished within an amazing 73 seconds of one another. Tollakson and James Bonney switched leads several times on the bike and run before Tollakson surged to a 14-second lead over Bonney with two miles to go. Lurking just one minute behind were American Jordan Rapp and Major. By the time the deck was shuffled for the last time, Major streaked to the win, Tollakson hung on for second, and Rapp surged past Bonney for third.
Continuing a bad-luck streak that reached its nadir with an illness-plagued, off-the-back Ironman Hawaii, 2007 Ironman Arizona champion Rutger Beke pulled out after finishing the bike 6:44 down to Bonney.
Csomor overcame a 7:31 deficit to Jones’ 51:37 swim when she passed Jones at Mile 76 of the bike on her way to a race-best 5:02:30 ride. With a lightning-quick transition, Jones turned a 30-second deficit into a 28-second advantage starting the run. But Csomor, coming off a smashing win over Jones, 2006 Ironman 70.3 world champion Samantha McGlone, 2007 Ironman 70.3 world champion Mirinda Carfrae and 2002 ITU short-course world champion Leanda Cave last month at Ironman 70.3 California, could not be denied.
Csomor, a four-time Powerman Zofingen champion and multiple ITU duathlon world titlist, cruised by Jones a mile and a half into the run and never looked back.
By the end of the marathon, Csomor had posted the fastest split of the day – 3:07:58 – and had outpaced Jones’ run by 11 minutes, 31 seconds. Furthermore, the 2004 Ironman Austria champion had sent a message that she was no longer just a duathlete on holiday, but on target to join fellow Brett Sutton-coached star Chrissie Wellington on the podium in Kona this October.
Csomor’s 9:14:49 finish was 1:56 behind Jones’ course record set in 2006 – the year of her Ironman Hawaii win.
Ford Ironman Arizona
Tempe, Arizona
April 13, 2008
2.4mi S/112 mi B/26.2 mi R
Elite Men's Results
Athlete Swim Bike Run Total
1. Jozsef Major (HUN) 58:59 4:41:10 2:50:12 8:34:19
2. TJ Tollakson (USA) 50:06 4:36:53 3:04:05 8:34:36
3. Jordan Rapp (USA) 55:03 4:32:42 3:02:33 8:35:04
4. James Bonney (USA) 48:24 4:37:43 3:05:34 8:35:32
5. Rene Goehler (GER) 48:45 4:45:24 3:04:34 8:42:36
6. Jonathan Caron (CAN) 50:09 4:53:29 3:00:28 8:48:11
7. Massimo Cigana (ITA) 55:58 4:46:54 3:07:53 8:54:33
8. Brian Fuller (AUS) 55:54 4:48:41 3:12:37 9:00:51
9. Serge Meyer (CZE) 59:04 4:47:27 3:10:40 9:01:39
10. Bernhard Keller (GER) 56:16 5:00:19 3:07:25 9:08:04
DNF: Rutger Beke
Elite Women' Results
1. Erika Csomor (HUN) 59:08 5:02:30 3:07:58 9:14:49
2. Michellie Jones (AUS) 51:37 5:10:48 3:19:29 9:25:52
3. Heather Gollnick (USA) 52:05 5:16:25 3:18:42 9:32:07
4. Tamara Kozulina (UKR) 59:03 5:20:54 3:09:56 9:34:18
5. Linsey Corbin (USA) 59:07 5:11:00 3:18:19 9:34:38
6. Tara Norton (CAN) 56:32 5:05:25 3:28:41 9:35:45
7. Tina Boman (FIN) 56:15 5:23:15 3:23:06 9:47:26
8. Hillary Biscay (USA) 51:32 5:21:25 3:36:05 9:53:21
9. Sione Jongstra (NED) 56:26 5:26:50 3:37:35 10:05:58
10. Teri Albertazzi (USA) 1:08:12 5:13:25 3:39:41 10:07:38
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