Marlene de Boer's first professional victory in Cork 'This means a lot

Marlene de Boer's first professional victory in Cork 'This gives a lot of confidence'

August 25 2023, by Johan Boef, 4 min reading time

Marlene de Boer achieved her first professional victory in Cork. It gives her the necessary self-confidence towards the Almere-Amsterdam Challenge, the Ironman where she will again go for the win.

Getting a good training incentive towards Almere, that was Marlene de Boer's main goal when she started in Cork, Ireland. In the meantime, she was certainly thinking about victory. “I'm going to try to cross the line first here.”

It didn't look good the day before the race. An unexpected storm hit Ireland and the evening before the race the athletes were busy in the transition zone securing their bikes with ty wraps in the rain to prevent them from blowing away. When the race was canceled on Saturday, the athletes breathed a sigh of relief.

Fastest time on the cycling part

A day later they still dived into the high waves with considerably less wind. “This was quite a swim,” Marlene laughs as she looks back on the first part of her won race. “We are not preparing for this at all. It was just: mind zero, dive in and get to the first buoy as quickly as possible.” Two girls immediately took a big lead in the choppy water, but once on the bike, things started to go well for Marlene. “I overtook the first opponent after 30 kilometers,” she says proudly. “I am completely happy with that cycling, that I achieved the fastest cycling time, that gives me a lot of confidence. It was a beautiful bike course, with many enthusiastic supporters along the side. It looked like a European Football Championship,” she says enthusiastically.

Not a perfect race, but victory

The cycling went so well that she had a lead of about 5 minutes at the start of the running part. That margin seemed comfortable, especially for someone like Marlene who usually relies mainly on this discipline. But in an Ironman nothing is certain, as was also evident in Cork. For example, three quarters of the way through the half marathon, things almost threatened to go wrong for Marlene. “After 15 kilometers my tank was almost empty. "I've never experienced that before. I just saw my pace drop, which was quite stressful," she says. It even took a bit of walking, but she eventually recovered. “I started running at a pace where I know I can comfortably complete that half marathon, by the way.” It turned out to be enough and Marlene crossed the line as the winner after 4:24:41. “So you see that there is no such thing as a perfect race,” she says, laughing.”

Marlenen wins Ironman Cork 70.3

'Not just an individual achievement'

“It ultimately gives a lot of confidence, I really have the feeling that it is all starting to fall into place now, the feeling that I have pushed hard,” she analyzes, looking back on her first months as a pro athlete, with the victory in Cork as the temporary highlight. She explicitly praises the role of her coach Yvonne van Vlerken. “It is not only an individual achievement, but also the development of everything that comes with it. For example, that I have gained the trust of sponsors and am now making it happen. Of course you don't know that in advance. I succeeded, I showed that I am pro-worthy.”

Participate for the win in Almere

With this confidence in hand, the focus is now fully on the match in Almere at the beginning of September. “I want to participate there for the win,” she says confidently. “Look, I always race for the win, I always do my best and I want to get the most out of it. But if I don't win in Almere and I have a good match, then I'm at peace with that too. I always try to set some goals before a race. Finishing is the first goal. And in Almere I certainly hope that I can do a good cycling and running part again. But the end goal is to always try to win.”

Follow Marlene de Boer on TriathlonWorld.nl

Marlene will discuss all those experiences, training, tests, preparations and of course the races themselves in the coming months on the TriathlonWorld website. “How can you translate my experiences, what have I learned? It is of course different for everyone, but you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time. In things I do, in rituals I have in a taper week, on competition day and the day before. Or about visualizing. And what do I do with food and drink, with nutrition? What does my packing list look like? My story, my 'why' and my motive behind what I do, I like to pass that on so that others can also benefit from it.” In short, keep a close eye on the site.