Ironman South Africa Preview

Henry Budgett previews this weekend's race in South Africa

The Spec-Savers Ironman South Africa must be one of the few events on the Ironman calendar where you can travel to the race by crossing two continents, switch hemispheres and still stay in the same timezone that you were in when you started!

It's also going to be just that little extra special this weekend because a legend is in town; Mark Allen will be making an appearance at the MTN Corporate Triathlon Challenge on Saturday, 12 April. The six-time World Champion will be taking a short tour of Port Elizabeth and surrounding areas before Saturday's warm-up event and hopefully will also be around for the Ironman itself on Sunday.

Two-time Spec-Savers Ironman South Africa champion Gerrit Schellens is also in town. Schellens is unable to defend his title this year owing to a stress fracture in his foot but the 'face' of this year's event (he's on billboards all over Port Elizabeth) will be there to lend his support - and to see who will step into his place on the podium.

In fact, there's a vacancy on top of both the men's and women's podiums as last year's women's champion, Switzerland's Natascha Badmann, is still recovering from a shoulder injury she received in her bike crash at the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona last October.

There are several names in the frame for both titles; South Africa's Raynard Tissink picked up the win at the Spec-Savers Ironman 70.3 South Africa in January, just six weeks after a second place at Ironman Western Australia, and he will be looking to regain a title he took at the first full-distance race here in 2005. Tissink faces strong competition from Spain's Marcel Zamora Perez, who won at Ironman France in both 2006 and 2007, while Germany's Steffen Liebetrau has multiple second places on his resume, including two at the legendarily tough Ironman Lanzarote, and Great Britain's Stephen Bayliss, who had a breakthrough year in 2007 with a second place at Ironman UK, both offer a serious challenge.

The women's field also has its potential winners clearly marked: Italy's Edith Niederfriniger was second to Badmann last year and definitely regards this as an opportunity to go one better but last year's third placed athlete, Scotland's Bella Comerford (who recently got engaged to Stephen Bayliss) will definitely be looking to get there first. Also in the running for a top finish will be Lucie Zelenkova from the Czech Republic who had a fourth place here in 2006.