Nelson triathlete wins career best

UP WITH THE STRONGEST: Britta Martin came agonisingly close to the medals in the cat and mouse Ironman France yesterday.

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Nelson triathlete Britta Martin has just achieved the best result in her career, finishing fourth in the women's field in Ironman France yesterday.

Proudly sporting the logo of Nelson sports clothing company Tineli, Martin crossed the line just two minutes outside of the medals, after holding the third spot on two occasions during the race, which drew 2500 competitors and was watched by an estimated 80,000 spectators in the tourist playground of Nice.

Martin completed the 3.8km swim in ninth spot, 12 minutes behind early leader Johanna Daumas of France and five minutes adrift of 2009 winner Tine Deckers of Belgium, who exited the swim in fifth place.

Martin was hot on the heels of 2008 winner, Frenchwoman Alexandra Louison as they moved out on to the hilly 180km bike circuit in the Nice hinterland.

Daumas extended her lead on the early part of the bike course and by 60km had moved up past many of the men to hold 20th spot overall.

By this point, Deckers was holding on to second spot, four minutes back, while Martin had slipped through the field into fourth. However, she had been caught by pre-race favourite Erika Csomor of Hungary and Louison was hanging on only 40 seconds behind.

By the time they reached 70km, Louison had moved into third, having biked the 10km an incredible three minutes quicker than Martin, knocking her back to fifth.

Ironman is a cat and mouse game and by the 110km, Daumas was running out of steam and Louison was also slowing down. Daumas still had the lead, but Deckers was making a strong move, while Martin had caught Louison and moved past her into third.

Csomor was still biding her time back in sixth spot.

By 150km, Deckers had taken the lead and was making a real effort to move away from the field, while Martin held third, 11 minutes back.

By the end of the bike ride, a 5hr 8min bike ride had given Deckers an 11-minute lead over Daumas, with Martin four minutes further back after recording the second-fastest ride of 5hr 17min.

From then on, it was Deckers' race to lose. The Belgian only had to run 3hr 19min for the marathon to capture the course record and last year she'd done it in 3hr 11min.

Martin was in a good spot, but Louison and Csomor filled the next two places and both had reputations as fearsome runners.

By the 16km mark, both had moved past Martin, who had Daumas in her sights, running past her before the halfway point in the run.

Csomor and Louison were intent on their own battle, but Martin hung tough, running her own race while the two ahead began to slow towards the finish.

In the end, it was Deckers, with a 3hr 7min marathon taking her well clear in a race record time of 9hr 21min 29sec, while less than four minutes separated the next three, with Martin agonisingly close to the medals, finishing in 9hr 40min 53sec.

Martin is recovering with family in Germany. She's qualified for the New Zealand team to contest the World Long-Course Championship on August 1, depending on her recovery.

- © Fairfax NZ News