Cat Morrison wins IM Lanzarote, even with a tea break.

Well to be fair it wasn't planned, but still...

We love it when someone from our blueseventy team wins, but this one takes the cake! Cat was in fine form at IM Lanzarote, ripping it up on the bike when 'ping' - her chain broke. It took nearly half an hour for her to get back in the race, during which time she took a wee break.
"Everyone was so helpful and soon there were phone calls galore going on to try and get the mechanic to me. I hydrated, ate some more food, sat in the shade and shot the breeze with the locals and spectators. I spent a lot of time chatting to people yesterday, that’s for sure! Eventually with a great big shove from a couple of super german boys I was back on the road. There were loads of bodies on the course so it was a motivational back half of the race ticking people off."

Her partner Richard told her at T2 she was 28mins down on the lead woman. For most mere mortals we'd have been thinking our day was done, but not Cat.
"I needed to finish within 5% of the winning time and in the top 2 to get my Kona slot."

Gradually she passed through the field (containing some quality athletes we might add, including three time winner Bella Bayliss) to take the lead and the win over the last 5k.
"I could hardly believe it. The whole race was about ticking places and people off. About not giving in and dare I say it, about believing that it was going to happen. A very special moment to cross the line knowing that I showed myself some important things and made the race especially exciting for everyone and probably gave richard a few extra grey hairs."

The mens race had it's own interesting features... Stephen Bayliss led out of the water, only to be taken over by Philip Greaves early in the bike. But the lead wouldn't last as Maik Twelsiek pulled out a new course record time of 4:41 on the bike, breaking Thomas Hellriegel’s 15-year-old bike course record (set on a course that didn’t have quite as much climbing, either). This gave him a 10-minutes lead on Bert Jammaer starting the run and over 12-minutes on Eneko Llanos. Graves came in off the bike in fourth but ran 1km before pulling out, exclaiming that "if you see me at the start of an Ironman in the next two years you have my permission to shoot me.” Bayliss also withered on the bike and withdrew.

But it was Llanos who would go on to take the win thanks to a solid 2:50 marathon, repeating his win from 2007.

IM Lanzarote, 22 May 2010
Men:
1 Eneko Llanos ESP 08:37:43
2 Bert Jammaer BEL 08:39:36
3 Maik Twelsiek GER 08:42:53

Women:
1 Catriona Morrison SCO 10:03:53
2 Louise Collins ENG 10:05:21 (25-29 AG)
3 Nicole Woysch GER 10:11:18