Australian Courtney Atkinson stormed home for his second World Cup victory of the year at the 2009 Ishigaki ITU Triathlon World Cup on April 26. This was Atkinson’s fourth win at the Ishigaki race since 2005, which he deems ‘lucky’ after losing his wedding ring during the swim that same year.
There are horses for courses, and sometimes there are courses for horses. In the world of triathlon, there are a select few dream matches between triathletes and courses that come to mind in this category. Mark Allen won ten straight Nice titles. In the eight wins in one race category we have Cam Brown at Ironman New Zealand, Michellie Jones at Chicago, Paula Newby-Fraser at Ironman Hawaii. At seven wins, there’s Olivier Bernhard at Zofingen. At six career wins, we have Natascha Badmann at Kona and Jo Lawn at Taupo.
Nine years ago on April 9, 2000, the 29-year-old Australian celebrated his first World Cup victory in Ishigaki, Japan. And now Courtney Atkinson is creeping up the multiple wins-at-the-same-place ladder with his fifth career win at the ITU World Cup in Ishigaki, on April 26. On a chilly spring day on the island of Ishigaki, Atkinson out-ran Russia’s Vasiliev brothers to take the win in 1:48:24 for a 37-second margin victory over runner-up Ivan and 59 seconds over third-placed Denis.Following his win at the season opener in Mooloolaba, Atkinson now owns the first two wins in the 2009 ITU World Cup season. "I was probably more nervous today than usual," Atkinson told ITU media. "But I've won a few times here, and to win my fifth race on the island is great."Atkinson came out of the swim near the front shivering, then broke away with a group of six that left the main pack behind by a staggering four minutes. "I'm not the best in the cold, and it was a bit chilly here today," said Atkinson. "But once I settled into my pace on the run, I was able to conserve a little bit of energy for next week (the first race of the 2009 ITU World Championship series in Korea) whilst managing to pull away."
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