Hungarians rule at Ironman finish line

Jozsef Major and Erika Csomor traveled separately from Hungary to Sunday’s fourth annual Ford Ironman Arizona in Tempe. They met at the finish line.

SLIDESHOW: See photos from the Ford Ironman Arizona Triathlon

VIDEO: Watch the aftermath of a crash during the bike portion of the triathlon

Ironman Arizona notebook: Weather event’s great equalizer

Oh brother! What an Ironman team

INTERACTIVE: Ironman Arizona Triathlon map, facts and traffic information

Both athletes won their respective men’s and women’s races, Major in dramatic fashion and Csomor with surprising ease. They both earned $12,000 for their efforts after completing the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run in very difficult weather conditions.

Major finished in 8 hours, 34 minutes, 19 seconds. Csomor in 9:14:49.

“I had no idea he had won,” Csomor said. “Every time I saw him, he was fifth or sixth. I was so surprised.”

She wasn’t the only one in disbelief. Major and men’s runner-up T.J. Tollakson were just as shocked.

Tollakson held a 13-minute lead on Major when he began the closing run.

But Major, who set the course marathon record here a year ago (2:46), caught Tollakson and James Bonney who had been running side by side over the race’s last six miles.

Major eventually took the lead in the final mile and beat Tollakson by 17 seconds, finishing the run in 2:50:12. Jordan Rapp was third, 45 seconds behind Major. Bonney claimed fourth, 1:13 behind.

“With a 12-minute lead. I never would have thought he would catch me,” said Tollakson, a 27-year-old Des Moines, Iowa, native training in Tucson for the past few months.

“I held back a little on the bike to save some for the run. I just came up a few seconds short. When a guy runs that well, you have to give him credit.”

Major, who started on the bike nine minutes behind Tollakson, admitted through an interpreter he didn’t think he had a chance to win either.

“I never believed it for a moment,” he said. “I was hoping for a podium finish (top five) after seeing where I was after the bike. I thought I was in ninth. I was surprised to learn I was really in sixth. I just tried to keep the others in sight.”

Michael Lovato, an Ironman veteran and finish-line onlooker Sunday, called the race, “one of the best finishes I have ever seen.” Defending champion Rutger Beke did not finish the race.

On the women’s side, Michellie Jones, the 2006 world and Arizona champion, held a seven-plus minute lead on Csomor following the swim.

But after the bike leg, Csomor controlled a 47-second lead and then blistered the field with a 3:07 marathon to win by 11:03 over Jones (9:25:52). Defending champion Heather Gollnick placed third at 9:32:07.

“I always feel comfortable on the run,” said Csomor, who two weeks earlier won a half-Ironman race in Oceanside, Calif. “I am getting better in the swim and bike. I just didn’t want to make a mistake and lose the race. Sometimes that is more difficult than trying to catch someone.”

Jones said she was very pleased with her effort.

“It was a brutal, brutal day out there,” said Jones about the winds that blew sand across the Beeline Highway and the heat that drained the athletes on the run.

“For anyone to finish this thing today is awesome. I just wanted to get the damn thing over with.”

Gollnick also liked her time. “To be five minutes behind Michellie is great. The wind was definitely the worst part,” she said.

Weather is the reason organizers have decided to move the event.