Rutger Beke Ironman Arizona RR

Hello everybody,

It is now Monday April 23, eight days after my first Ironman victory. Time to write down a race report!

I left Belgium for Tempe, Arizona on April 4 in order to have time to catch up with the time zone difference of 9 hours. When I landed in Phoenix, Ann Dreier (my home stay) was already waiting to pick me up. My wife, Sofie, got acquainted with her at the finish line in Kona, Hawaii. Faris Al-Sultan had stayed with her in preparation for the first edition of Ironman Arizona in 2005, which he ended up winning. Faris and Ann became friends and, as a result, Ann went over to Hawaii to cheer for Faris during the Ironman. So she was standing at the finish line on Alii Drive together with Sofie. The next year, they met again at the party of Triathlete Magazine after the Ironman Hawaii 2006. At that time, Ann mentioned that, if I ever participated in Arizona, she would take care of me and let me stay with her. Her house must have good vibes, because Faris won his first Ironman in 2005 in Arizona and then went on to win Hawaii in the same year!

Ann came to the airport in her yellow Hummer3. It was a brand-new car that she had bought on eBay from a guy in New York and that she just had delivered the previous day. Together we went to the rental car office to pick up a white Dodge Nitro for me. A little bit less than the Hummer, but still an impressive vehicle!

I had agreed with Pieter, my trainer-coach, to have another three-day block of training, in order not to loose my good feeling and rhythm by the time of the race. As a result, I was supposed to spend Saturday, Sunday and Monday on quality training. Luckily, this gave me Thursday and Friday to rest a little and to do some sightseeing. On Thursday I went for a swim with Ann in the Lifetime Fitness gym (main sponsor of the best paying triathlon in the world). Wow, what an immense facility! The biggest I have ever seen.

On Sunday, after my bike and running training, I went to the airport to pick up Claude Vandenhurk, my coach. Claude came over to help me in the week before the race and mainly to encourage me during the race and give me feedback on time differences and other important information. It’s always nice to have someone at the curbside to support you during an Ironman.

On Monday, I went to explore the bike course in Tempe. It was what I had expected to see. Stijn Demeulemeester (6th place in Ironman Arizona 2006) had told me already that this bike course would suite me well. The course consisted of 3 laps, every lap 30km going out and then 30 km coming back. It is almost completely flat, so, without wind, this would be a super fast route. Aside from two very light training sessions, I did not do a lot on Tuesday and Wednesday. I rested and tried to relax without thinking about the race. It helped a lot that Ann Dreier and her friend Scott are such pleasant people. All the time we stayed with them, we were joking and laughing. For me, this was an ideal preparation because most of the time I am to stressed-out in the preparation for a race! On Thursday I biked some 60 km in the morning and in the afternoon I went to register for the race. I filled the remaining hours resting.

The next day I had to go to the press conference. Tim Deboom (winner Ironman Hawaii 2001&2002) and Michael Lovato (winner Ironman Arizona 2006) my two most important competitors for the race, were also present. Lovato seemed very relaxed, but Deboom looked rather tired and dull. Two days later I would find out that the latter was just my imagination. The press conference was followed by the pro meeting. We were told that the drafting distance had changed back to 10m from front wheel to front wheel. This means that you have to leave 8m between your front wheel and the back wheel of your predecessor.

Saturday (the day before the race) always turns out to be a bad day for me. I am always so focused that I can hardly wait for the start gun to sound on Sunday. On our return from Tempe (where we had put my bike in the transition zone), we stopped at the Safeway to by some Pasta for that night. Standing in line for the pasta we met Tim Deboom. The day before the race I typically will also buy something to eat after the race. Nothing is worse than coming back home from the race and having no goodies to eat. So I went to the aisle for chips…. Deboom was also picking up a big bag of chips. Then I went to look for ice-cream … and who was there, putting his head in the freezer? Deboom, of course. I was reassured that I was not the only athlete that couldn’t resist thinking of all these forbidden goodies!

Sunday, April 15! Finally!! This was the day that I had been working towards for all these months. Last year, after the Ironman Hawaii, I already had told Pieter that no matter what it would cost me in the foregoing months, I absolutely wanted to win my first Ironman in 2007. Today was the day it had to happen. I woke up at 3:45 am and started to eat my usual 12 slices of white bread with strawberry jam. Everything went fine for the first 8, but then I had to force them down because I would need the energy later. Afterwards, I took my remaining race material and was driven to the start by Claude. I put my bike in order, then went to the toilet, ran a little to warm up until it was time to put on my wetsuit. I made a final phone call to Sofie in Belgium and was ready to go!

At 6.30 am we were allowed into the water, so we could warm up for another 15 minutes. Five minutes before the start, I took my position at the start line to the right of Deboom. He is a much better swimmer so I had to try to follow him as long as possible. This time everybody stayed nicely behind the start line (new rule: any athlete passing the line would be penalized with 30 seconds). Once started, I got into a good rhythm immediately. The swim lap was one big rectangle. I thought the going out was more difficult than coming back. I was in a group that moved in a nice tempo for me. I was together with Michael Lovato and Swen Sundberg. This is what I had envisioned before the start so I moved on easily and could preserve energy for what had to come afterwards.

The transition went quite smooth and I jumped on my bike together with Lovato, Leder and Sundberg. I left Lovato and Leder behind me almost immediately. Swen Sundberg however, followed behind me at the regular 10 m distance. In front of me I saw Lewis Elliot, who slowly drove away from me. I didn’t care too much: this was his second Ironman only and taking into account his times of last year, I had expected him to start a little too enthusiastic ( I have made the same error in the past: at the beginning of an Ironman, you feel so fresh that you overdo it and blow up yourself later).

Deboom and Rhodes came out of the water 3 and 4 minutes before me. After the first bike lap (60km) the difference with Deboom was reduced to 1min30. Rhodes apparently had a bad day, because I passed him after only 40 km. After 70km I looked backwards and realized that Swen Sundberg had disappeared. I don’t know why he was gone all of a sudden, maybe he had a flat tire or maybe he had been unable to follow my pace ( I hope it was the second reason, of course).

The first part of the second lap went fantastic. In 25 km I took back another 1min30 and ended up just behind Deboom and Niedrig. That’s when I remembered what Thomas Hellriegel had told me in Lanzarote, when we were talking about Hawaii 2006. Hellriegel and myself had just joined a group in Hawaii and while Thomas immediately passed at high speed, I took some time to rest in the group. Afterwards, it took me an enormous effort to ride away from that group. Hellriegel told me that you always have to pass a group immediately after you joined them. That way they don’t have the courage to follow you and you’re gone in no time. Joining Deboom and Niedrig, I thought this was the time to test his theory! Without looking at them I increased my pace and went by. It took me until km 90 before I dared to look backwards again. It felt to me that looking back earlier would have been a sign of weakness towards the others… if they were still following me. At the turning point, I saw there was now a little gap. This was a new feeling for me: for the fist time in my life, I was leading in an Ironman! The important thing was now to keep that position until the finish.

During the second half of the bike it got really windy. I saw several age groupers who were desperately trying to stay on their bikes. The wind made me think of Hawaii. My lead remained stable around 2 minutes. The last part of the bike became very though, with the wind blowing directly into my face. Maybe I had pushed too a little bit too hard while passing Deboom? How far away was the transition area? I went trough the transition area just a little bit less than 2 minutes before Tim. I still felt fresh and ready for another 42km. I started very quickly because I did not want Deboom to come closer and gaining confidence by doing so. Every mile I added a few seconds to my advantage. Not a lot, but at least the difference got larger. The first two laps went quite well, but at the beginning of the third one, I realized I was missing my third bottle of energy drink. It must have fallen out of my Fuelbelt. From then on, I was forced to take a Powerbar gel, every time I ran by an aid station. Mile after mile, the running became more difficult. This was not only due to the loss of my energy drink: I also started to feel the efforts of the previous seven hours. In the middle of the last lap, there was a steep hill were the wind was blowing right into my face. It felt to me as if I was not advancing any longer. Luckily Claude was standing at the curbside there. “Don’t panic”, he said. “The others are tiring as well”. After the hill, the most difficult part of the running was behind me and things went a little better again.

A few miles later I saw Peter Reid who was encouraging the athletes. He shouted “This is your day Rutger”! Peter had been encouraging me all day already, but when one of your biggest idols shouts this then you don’t dare to give away the race anymore! Passing the bridge for the last time, it felt again that I was not moving any longer. Luckily the finish line was only 400 meters further! The last 250m were super! Lots of people and everybody shouting like hell. The friends of Ann, my home stay, had made special banners with “Rutger Beke runs and bikes for Twinkies”! They were extremely enthusiastic when I ran down the finish chute.
At the finish line, you forget about being tired for a few moments. Hence I really enjoyed my victory. 15 minutes later that feeling of exhaustion came back with a vengeance, so I had to lie down for a while. That’s when I realized for the first time - You finally have won your first Ironman!

I want to thank my beautiful wife Sofie and my wonderful daughter Tille for sticking with me and believing in me. I also want to thank Betsy and Gerard at Cervelo for providing me with an unbelievably fast bike. A special thanks to Vinu at Fuelbelt for supporting me and never losing faith in me. And thank you to all of my sponsors – Nike, Arinso, Oil Service, Zipp Wheels, Fizik saddles and Chris Travers from Profile Design – I could not have done it without your support and continued belief in me.

See you at the races!

Rutger Beke
Ironman Arizona Champion