The men’s race was a real scrap between former IRONMAN world champion Frederik Van Lierde (BEL), Michael Weiss (AUT), Pieter Heemeryck (DEU), Ben Hoffman (USA), and Michel Gonsalez (MEX) throughout in the swim and the early portions of the bike. Van Lierde took control in the first of two loops of the bike and shattered the chase group behind him.
Van Lierde would scramble into T2 with leads of 2:29 to 5:45 on Weiss, Heemeryck, Hoffman and Gonzalez. The wheels quickly fell of Van Lierde’s run in the first of two laps that resulted in the leader swiftly plummeting to third. Weiss was the new leader and was forced to contend with Heemeryck, who was running 25 seconds back of the leader. Weiss would manage to survive the challenge from behind to claim the victory by a 1:27 winning margin.
Heather Wurtele (CAN) managed to overcome a 3:05 deficit coming out of the water to Lauren Brandon (USA) and turned the deficit into a minute and half lead on the field at the conclusion of the bike. Wurtele put in a solid run and outlasted a hard-charging Jacalyn Hering (USA) to claim her third consecutive win in Campeche.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Weiss, Michael AUT 3:50:02
2 Heemeryck, Pieter DEU 3:51:29
3 Hoffman, Ben USA 3:52:48
4 Hanson, Matt USA 3:55:28
5 Van Lierde, Frederik BEL 3:58:15
Top 5 Pro Women
1 Wurtele, Heather CAN 4:15:23
2 Hering, Jacalyn USA 4:16:16
3 Brandon, Lauren USA 4:27:17
4 Barrera, Maria MEX 4:27:58
5 Kommander, Ewa POL 4:34:59