Women's Only Pro Race In Coeur d'Alene

Ford Ironman Coeur d'Alene offers $50,000 to the pro women

Switching venues from last year, this weekend's Ford Ironman Coeur d'Alene event will serve as a women's only professional race, while Ford Ironman USA Lake Placid will offer a men's only prize purse next month.

Competing for the $50,000 on Sunday will be a strong international women's field that includes Ironman champions Heather Gollnick, Joanna Zieger, Kate Major, and Katja Schumacher, although many have pegged Kim Loeffler as the pre-race favorite.

Gollnick is one of the top American female Ironman athletes with a total of three Ironman titles to her credit. Her wins have all come at races in North America, the first at the inaugural Ford Ironman Wisconsin in 2002. In addition to her win in Idaho in 2003, Gollnick also repeated as Champion in Wisconsin in September of that year. The 35-year-old mother of three recently competed at Ford Ironman Arizona in April 2006, finishing in second place with a time of 9:33:25.

Major, a former professional squash player, has won two Ironman events in her career, Ford Ironman USA Lake Placid in 2004 and Ford Ironman Arizona in 2005. The 28-year-old also has two third place finishes at the 2004 and 2005 Ford Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.

Schumacher has put together top performances at Ironman events since 1997. Her first win was at the 1998 Ironman Germany race, followed by a second title at the 2001 Ford Ironman Florida event. Schumacher claimed her third Ironman win at the 2002 edition of Ironman Germany. Now 37-years-old, Schumacher posted a sixth place finish at the 2005 Ford Ironman World Championship.

Zieger’s impressive resume includes a fourth place finish at the 2000 Olympic Games, which she followed up just a few months later with a fifth place finish at the Ford Ironman World Championship. She won the Brazil Telecom Ironman event in Florianopolis last year.

Loeffler was the top US finisher at the Ford Ironman World Championship last year, an impressive follow to her runner-up finish at Ford Ironman USA Lake Placid.


Another woman many feel could be a top contender this weekend is Hillary Biscay, who has already posted third place finishes at Ford Ironman Arizona and Ironman Brazil.

In addition to the pro prize purse, there are 80 qualifying spots for the Ford Ironman World Championship in Hawaii.

We’ll have a full weekend of coverage for you right here at Ironman.com