Normann Stadler, Ironman Hawaii World Champion 2004 and 2006, has spoken out clearly on Monday compared with the SWR Radio 4 Kurpfalz career to end. “Ich hätte eh am Jahresende gesagt: Mit Leistungssport, das war’s dann”. “I have always said at the end of the year: With sporting performance, that’s it.”

Normann Stadler on Monday, the first August seinen Rückzug vom Spitzensport gegenübr SWF 4 bekanntgegeben. August announced his retirement from professional racing gegenübr SWF 4th . . Seine Fans, das Island Lava Java und Kailua-Kona werden einen der großen Ironman-Stars vermissen – Besuch nicht ausgeschlossen. His fans, which are Iceland and Lava Java in Kailua-Kona Ironman one miss the big stars – not visiting excluded. Photo: Ulihb Photo: Ulihb

So whoever of you is racing Regensburg: Go beat the potential Kona champ!

I think that’s not really what WTC intended with the new KPR system. and Andreas is the first favorite for Kona who decides not to race the qualifying race and rather took home some good appearance money at Challenge Roth.

By that measure, Mississippi is the fattest state in the union with an adult obesity rate of 34.4 percent. Colorado is the least obese — with a rate of 19.8 percent — and the only state with an adult obesity rate below 20 percent, according to “F as in Fat,” an annual report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

While the number of states showing significant year-over-year increases in obesity has been slowing, no state chalked up an actual decline. Even Colorado does not win high marks — its score means one in five state residents is at higher risk for conditions like heart disease and diabetes.

“Today, the state with the lowest adult obesity rate would have had the highest rate in 1995,” said Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health.

Four years ago, only one U.S. state had an adult obesity rate above 30 percent, according to the report, which defines adult obesity as a having a body mass index — a weight-to-height ratio — of 30 or more.

Over the last two decades, people in the United States have been eating less nutritious food and more of it. At the same time, activity levels have fallen, Levi said.

“If we’re going to reverse the obesity trends, willpower alone won’t do it. We’re going to have to make healthier choices easier for Americans,” Levi said.

Public health experts around the world have raised the alarm about exploding rates of obesity — particularly among children — and many are promoting efforts to encourage exercise and easier access to affordable, healthy food.

In the United States — where two-thirds of adults and nearly one-third of children are obese or overweight — the obesity epidemic is sending healthcare costs higher and threatening everything from worker productivity to military recruitment.

Some groups say such behavioral initiatives are not enough, arguing that food manufacturers and restaurant chains need limits on how they market to children.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a U.S. consumer group, last year sued McDonald’s Corp to stop the world’s largest hamburger chain from using Happy Meal toys to lure children into its restaurants. Last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics — a group of U.S. pediatricians — called for a ban on junk food ads aimed at children.

The food industry — which has significantly increased portion sizes in restaurants and packaged foods like sugar-sweetened beverages over the last 20 years — is fighting regulation efforts and has adopted the mantra of “personal responsibility.”

To that end, food and beverage companies say consumers have the right to choose what they eat and should balance their caloric intake with activity.

The report released on Thursday showed that over the past 15 years, seven states have doubled their rate of obesity and 10 states have doubled their rate of diabetes.

Since 1995, obesity rates have risen fastest in Oklahoma, Alabama and Tennessee, while Colorado, Connecticut and Washington, D.C., had the slowest increases.

Adults from racial and ethnic minority groups, as well as those with less education and lower incomes, continue to have the highest overall obesity rates.

The men’s race is headlined by former Vineman Ironman 70.3 winners Chris Lieto (2002, 2010), course record holder Joe Gambles (2009), 2011 US Ironman Champion Timothy O’Donnell, 2011 Ironman South Africa and 2011 Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3 Champion Raynard Tissink, 2011 Ironman Kansas 70.3 Champion Paul Matthews, and Andy Potts, currently one of the hottest athletes on the triathlon circuit. A former Olympian and the 2010 Ford Ironman Coeur d’ Alene champion, Potts has already won five races this year including the Ironman 70.3 Florida and the Ironman 70.3 California-Oceanside.

If the favorites aren’t on their best form there is a large group of other champion athletes that will affect the outcome of this prestigious race and be happy to take home a share of the $50,000 prize purse. They include: 2011 Avia Wildflower winner Jesse Thomas, Kieran Doe (former Ironman Canada Champion and 2nd 2011 Avia Vineman Ironman 70.3), the imposing and diverse Matty Reed, Matt Lieto, and 2010 Subaru Ironman Canada Champion Victor Zyemtsev.

Almost equally impressive is the women’s pro race. The start list is headlined by 2010 Ford Ironman World Champion and 2010 Avia Vineman Ironman 70.3 winner Mirinda Carfrae, Leanda Cave (2nd Ironman Championship 70.3, 1st 2011 Avia Wildflower, 2nd 2010 Avia Vineman Ironman 70.3), Heather Jackson (2nd Ironman 70.3 California-Oceanside), 3x Xterra World Champion Melanie McQuaid, 2010 Ironman Canada Champion Meredith Kessler, and rising star Magali Tisseyre.

While the professional athletes are competing for $50,000 in prize money and Ironman World Championship and Ironman 70.3 World Championship qualifying points, age group athletes will be racing in an equally strong field for bragging rights and 50 coveted qualifying spots for the Ironman World Championship 70.3 to be held on September 11 in Las Vegas, NV.

For more information and schedules please go to: www.vineman.com.

Contested each year since 1983, Age Group Nationals has sold out on just one previous occasion – last year when the field reached capacity one week prior to the event in Tuscaloosa, Ala. This year 1,440 slots were filled for the Olympic-distance event nearly two months in advance, with another 500 racers registered for the sold-out Sprint Distance National Championship. These totals also guarantee that Burlington will host the largest-ever USA Triathlon-owned National Championship. Athletes representing all 50 states are slated to compete.
“Selling out this far in advance is a testament to the importance of our National Championship races and the outstanding venue in Burlington. Triathletes nationwide are more excited than ever about the opportunity to compete against the best of the best with a national title on the line, as well as the chance to qualify for the 2012 ITU Age Group World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand,” said USA Triathlon CEO Rob Urbach.

“We realize that some of the nation’s top amateur triathletes were hoping to qualify for Age Group Nationals at upcoming USA Triathlon Regional Championships, Special Qualifiers and other sanctioned events. Accordingly, we are diligently exploring all possible solutions for expanding the field. With many qualifying races still to occur this season, I’d like to thank all of our members for their patience as we work closely with the local organizing committee, the city of Burlington and local government to examine ways to safely accommodate more athletes.”

On the Fourth of July, an American, Tyler Farrar, sprinted to victory in Stage 3 of the Tour de France, confirming the strong form of his team, Garmin-Cervelo, in the early days of the race.

It was the second straight stage victory for Garmin-Cervelo, after it won a team time trial Sunday. Another Garmin-Cervelo rider, Thor Hushovd, wears the overall leader’s yellow jersey.

“To win on the Fourth of July is just another sign of how well it’s all come together today,” Farrar said.

For Farrar, a 27-year-old who lives in the Netherlands, it was the first stage victory in the Tour, which he is competing in for the third time. After crossing the finish line, Farrar raised the fingers of both hands in the shape of the letters “WW,” in memory of Wouter Weylandt, his former training partner, who died in a crash in May during the Giro d’Italia.

“This one is for Wouter,” he said. “It’s been a big loss. It’s been a rough few months for me since, but I wanted to be good here in the Tour and try to do something to remember him and so I’m happy that was able to do it.”

On Day 3 the Tour rolled mostly north for 198 kilometers, or 123 miles, along the Atlantic coast of France, from the beach resort of Olonne-sur-Mer in the Vendée region to Redon in Brittany, through countryside so flat that church steeples and hay bales were often the only topographical features of note. Such terrain, with few climbs to separate the riders en route, favors sprinters like Farrar and Hushovd.

Hushovd, a Norwegian, maintained the yellow jersey with a sixth-place finish in Stage 3. But the close finish Monday may have little effect on the final outcome. One of the overall favorites, Cadel Evans of BMC Racing, gained three seconds on the defending champion, Alberto Contador, and the runner-up last year, Andy Schleck of Leopard Trek. While Evans is in third place over all, Contador, of the Saxo Bank-Sungard team, is well off the pace. But on Monday he at least managed to avoid further mishaps like those that occurred in the opening stage on Saturday, when he was held up by a crash in front of him.

For much of the afternoon Monday, the stage was led by a breakaway group of five relatively undecorated riders: Maxime Bouet of the AG2R-La Mondiale team; Mickael Delage of FDJ; Jose Iván Gutiérrez of Movistar; Rubén Pérez Moreno of Euskaltel Euskadi; and Niki Terpstra of Quick Step. The five made their attack in the opening minutes and eventually built up a cushion of more than 7 minutes.

Delage won an intermediate sprint in the village of Saint-Hilaire-de-Chaléons, the only one of this or any other stage in the 2011 Tour. A change in the rules eliminated the multiple intermediate sprints of years past; this year, points toward the green jersey are awarded only during the single intrastage sprint and the sprints to the finish.

The change was expected to favor riders like Mark Cavendish, a Briton with the HTC-Highroad team who has never worn the green jersey into the Tour finish in Paris despite winning a total of 15 stages in four previous Tours. Under the new system, the lone intermediate sprint is worth more points toward the green jersey. But Cavendish won neither the intermediate sprint nor the dash to the finish, ending up fifth.

The only significant rise in Stage 3 was a climb up a bridge over the Loire Estuary near the port of Saint-Nazaire. The climb, rated Category Four and worth a single point toward the King of the Mountains’ polka-dot jersey, was also won by Delage. But that result will have little effect on the overall climbers’ competition, as a single top-category climb in a mountain stage is worth 20 points to the winner.

After the Saint-Nazaire climb winded the five breakaway riders, the peloton, better protected from the swirling winds of the Estuary, steadily closed the gap, setting up the mass sprint to the finish.

In the final kilometers, Cavendish and his HTC-Highroad teammates appeared to be well positioned, but in the closing seconds they were passed by several riders, including Farrar and Romain Feillu of Vacansoleil-DCM, who finished second.

On Tuesday, for Stage 4, the Tour remains in Brittany for a 172.5-kilometer route.

Vanhoenacker, 35, was frighteningly relaxed here in Klagenfurt over the last few days, which should have been a sign to all of us how good he was feeling heading into this race that he’d won five years in a row.

Today, recognizing that the weather conditions (partly cloudy with a high temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit, or 24 degrees Celsius, and almost no wind) were ideal to go for the record he missed by just 98 seconds last year, the Belgian flew through the course right from the start.

After exiting the swim 30 seconds faster than he did a year ago (46:49), Vanhoenacker quickly took control of the bike ride. By the time he was done he’d put together an incredible 4:15:37 bike split, the second-fastest (to Jurgen Zack’s 4:14:54 set here in 2000) in Ironman history. Then came a 2:39:24 marathon run, and the fastest Ironman time ever recorded.

Michael Weiss, the Austrian hope to challenge Vanhoenacker, moved himself up to second through the bike, but never threatened for the lead, despite the fact that he finished in 7:57:39. Rounding out the top three was Estonia’s Marko Albert, who came across the line in 8:08:17.

Britain’s Tom Lowe continued his impressive move to the Ironman world (which is probably a necessity when you’re girlfriend has the last name “Wellington”) with a fourth place finish to go along with his third place showing in Arizona last year. He came across the line in 8:11:30, followed by countryman Stephen Bayliss who finished in 8:16:47.
Men’s top-10:

1 Vanhoenacker Marino BEL 7:45:59

2 Weiss Michael AUT 7:57:39

3 Albert Marko EST 8:08:17

4 Lowe Tom GBR 8:11:30

5 Bayliss Stephen GBR 8:16:47

6 Major Jozsef HUN 8:28:15

7 Blokhin Anton UKR 8:30:57

8 Fink Mario AUT 8:31:37

9 Schniertshauer Rainer GER 8:33:43
10 Lang Robert AUT 8:34:21

Record-setting debut

Mary Beth Ellis arrived here in Klagenfurt as nervous as a first-time Ironman competitor should be. A late entrant to the race, Ellis came to Klagenfurt on the directive of her new coach, Brett Sutton. (One can picture that conversation: “You’re going to go and do Ironman Austria later this week … and you’re going to win it.”)

As has become the norm, Sutton’s instincts were bang-on, as Ellis led the race from start to finish. The two-time runner up at the Ironman World Championship 70.3 used her ITU World Cup swimming skills to get to T1 first, and never looked back. In fact, it wasn’t until the last 10 km of the run that the rest of the women in what we thought was a competitive field (there were five Ironman champions competing here in Klagenfurt today) managed to gain any time on the 34-year-old.

Were Ellis not in the race, Hungary’s Erika Csomor and Germany’s Diana Riesler would have an incredible battle for the win. Instead they were relegated to a close race for second, which Csomor won, finishing in 8:51:34 to Riesler’s 8:53:34. Behind them were Heleen bij de Vaate (8:56:11) and last year’s champion Eva Dollinger, who improved her time by 13 minutes this year as she crossed the line in 9:05:13.

Top-10 women:
1 Ellis Mary Beth USA 8:43:34
2 Csomor Erika HUN 8:51:10
3 Riesler Diana GER 8:53:34
4 Bij De Vaate Heleen NED 8:56:11
5 Dollinger Eva AUT 9:05:13
6 Helfenschneider-Ofner Simone AUT 9:11:36
7 Rudolf Michaela AUT 9:14:16
8 Wolfe Joyce IRL 9:15:42
9 Görtz Beate GER 9:18:57

But before he got to the finish, and out on the bike, it didn’t take long until he was caught by Frenchman Francois Chabaud.

The two triathletes stayed together for the rest of  bike coming into T2 just seconds apart. Once on the run Van Lierde made quick work of Chabaud to take the French IM title with well over 10 minutes to spare.

Third place on the podium belonged to Spanish triathlete Marcel Zamora Perezand in a time of 8:40:55.

On the women’s side of the the race it was German Silvia Felt who won the day with a race best 5:14:06 bike split in a total time of 9:34:31.

Italian Martina Dogana finished second and German Britta Martin rounded out the podium in Nice france.

2011 Ironman France

Top 5 professional men

1. Federik Van Lierde (BEL) 8:28:30
2. Francois Chabaud (FRA) 8:37:18
3. Marcel Zamora Perez (ESP) 8:40:55
4. Paul Amey (GBR) 8:47:03
5. Sergio Marques (POR) 8:59:55

Top 5 professional women

1. Silvia Felt (GER) 9:34:31
2. Martina Dogana (ITA) 9:45:26
3. Britta Martin (GER) 9:48:56
4. Kim Loeffler (USA) 9:53:08
5. Johanna Daumas (FRA) 9:53:29

Given the early start time of the race, a majority of the field made it in before the height of the heat. The race directors had put into place several precautions to keep the athletes safe, including roaming ice trucks between the aid stations.

On the men’s side, it was a battle right from the start with the top ten men coming out of the water within 90 seconds of each other. By the first bike split, at mile 15, Raynard Tissink of South Africa had ridden his way from seventh to first. 24-year old James Bowstead was a nagging presence throughout the ride, staying within shouting distance of Tissink for the duration of the 56 miles. The rest of the men’s field continued to shuffle like a deck of cards.

Once out on to the run course, it was experience that prevailed. Tissink never faded, but was keenly aware of the hard charging Michael Lovato.

“It was great to take the win, but it would be better to feel good while doing it,” said Tissink via email. “It’s still early in the season, and perhaps the adjustment to altitude in Boulder, and jet lag from the trip from South Africa, is still having an effect.”

He is hoping by the time he gets to Vineman 70.3 he will be able to put in a performance that does not have him looking over his shoulder hoping the next guy does not catch him on the run.

Having started the run down 2:28, Lovato managed to erase all but 55 seconds of his deficit.

Of his day, Lovato said, “It hurt so good out there.”

Unofficial Top Ten Men

1 4:03:27            23 Raynard Shay Tissink Beverly Grove, EA S.AFR

3 4:05:51    2:25     6 Josiah       Middaugh Vail            CO   USA

7 4:14:55   11:28    19 Gavin        Anderson Louisville      CO   USA

Continuing her amazing breakthrough season that includes a win in San Juan and a runner-up finish at Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas, the women’s race belonged to Kelly Williamson for all but one minute of the day. There was a brief moment, one minute to be exact, when she was in second place.

Williamson was out of the water 1:04 ahead of the other pro women, but Jessica Meyers of Tulsa, Oklahoma patiently chipped away at the deficit and arrived at the bike-to-run transition one minute before Williamson. As proves to be the case in many long course events, the final results played out on the run. By the 6.55-mile checkpoint, Williamson had not only reclaimed the lead, she had put 2:32 on Meyers. In the end, she distanced herself from Meyers by 8:14, which is not so surprising when you see she negative split the half-marathon!

“Winning is never easy and today was no different,” Williamson said after the race. “The wind was unrelenting and I knew the ladies were hunting me down on the bike. I was second here in 2009, so it feels really great to come here and take the win, especially given how tough of a course it is. It may be sick and twisted, but I love Buffalo Springs!”

Unofficial Top Ten Women

1 4:26:09            42 Kelly        Williamson  Austin          TX   USA

2 4:34:23    8:14    26 Jessica      Meyers   Tulsa           OK   USA

4 4:35:39    9:30    31 Jessica      Jacobs   El Paso         TX   USA

6 4:40:49   14:41    44 Whitney      Garcia   Boulder         CO   USA

7 4:45:47   19:39    33 Heather      Leiggi   Bryn Mawr       PA   USA

8 4:51:48   25:39    24 Lesley       Smith    Austin          TX   USA

9 4:52:35   26:26    35 Jackie       Arendt   Madison         WI   USA

10 4:53:50   27:41    38 Donna        Phelan   Encinitas       CA   USA