Lionel Sanders runs away with the win while Jennifer Spieldenner had to fight off a late challenge in the run at the Subaru IRONMAN 70.3 Muskoka.
Sanders blitzes the bike and run
Brazil’s Igor Armorelli was first to emerge from the waters of Peninsula Lake after stroking out a 23-minute swim on the single-loop swim course. Ian Boggs (USA) and Antoine Desroches (CAN) were second and third out of the water, while pre-race favorite, Lionel Sanders (CAN) was ninth out of the water, 4:48 off the leaders' pace.
Out on the 94 km single-loop bike course, Amorelli showed the way through 35 km’s with Sanders riding in second, 3:30 in arrears. Over the course of the next 59 kms, Sanders pushed the pace and worked his way into the lead and would eventually carry a 4:32 advantage on Amorelli when the lead pair reached T2.
In his element on the run, Sanders was untouchable on the rural roads as he open up his lead leaving the remainder of the field to scrap it out for second and third. Sanders' splendid 1:15:40 run split sealed the deal on the win in a time of 3:50:13. Alex Vanderlinden’s second fastest run on the day bounced him up to second place (4:16:30), with Boggs finishing off the podium with his 4:19:33 finish time.
Spieldenner fends off late charge
Jennifer Spieldenner (USA) was never under much pressure for much of the day on the swim and bike in cottage country in Canada's cottage country. She was first to make her way into T1 with an almost a four-minute lead on her closest rival, Kirsty Jahn (CAN). Spieldenner dismounted her bike with leads of 4:38 and 7:31 on Jahn and Sue Huse (CAN) while the remainder of the field was out of podium contention.
Spieldenner’s lead had been whittled down to 2:14 by Jahn at 10.5 km’s on the run. The feisty leader survived the late charge from behind to capture the Subaru IRONMAN 70.3 Muskoka title by a winning margin of 40 seconds over Jahn, while Huse finished a distant third, 10:51 off the winner's pace.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Sanders, Lionel CAN 0:27:48/2:16:08/1:15:39/4:02:52
2 Vanderlinden, Alex CAN 0:26:35/2:30:05/1:16:34/4:16:30
3 Boggs, Ian USA 0:23:24/2:30:45/1:21:57/4:19:33
4 Monnink, Jordan CAN 0:26:47/2:29:12/1:20:22/4:19:56
5 Pawlaczyk, Kyle USA 0:27:54/2:22:41/1:26:27/4:20:38
Top 5 Pro Women
1 Spieldenner, Jennifer USA 0:25:25/2:44:28/1:25:59/4:39:27
2 Jahn, Kirsty CAN 0:29:18/2:44:29/1:22:07/4:40:07
3 Huse, Sue CAN 0:31:39/2:45:35/1:29:06/4:50:18
4 Martineau, Caroline CAN 0:31:43/2:50:34/1:42:59/5:11:23
5 Lentzke, Jennifer CAN 0:34:56/2:51:47/1:46:10/5:18:3