Brent McMahon wins on debut while the 11th time is the charm for Meredith Kessler at IRONMAN Arizona presented by Waste Management.
Meredith Kessler (USA) has competed at every single IRONMAN Arizona race. Five of those were as an age grouper, the last six times she’s raced as a pro. Over the years she’s finished second here twice, third another time. Last year she went 8:55 … and it still wasn’t enough to get her the win. Today the American knocked another five minutes off her time, finishing in an impressive 8:50, which was more than enough to get her across the line in first, capping what has been, other than one not-so-great day in Kona, a fantastic season that included two full-distance wins (Arizona and New Zealand) along with wins at IRONMAN 70.3 races at Vineman, Mont-Tremblant and St. George.
Brent McMahon (CAN), a two-time Olympian, was supposed to make his IRONMAN race debut in Lake Tahoe in September. When that race was cancelled he regrouped and added the race here in Tempe on his schedule. That was bad news for the rest of the men in this field – Jordan Rapp came to Arizona predicting a sub-8 hour time would be required to win and he was right. A new bike course record and an 8:03 clocking in the tough, windy conditions wasn’t enough to get the American another title here in Arizona. In the end Rapp would get beaten to the line by Spaniard Clemente Alonso Mckernan, too, having to settle for third despite improving his time by almost three minutes over last year on a much tougher day.
Kessler leads from start to finish
It became apparent that Meredith Kessler was bringing a new level of intensity into today’s race right from the gun. One kilometer into the swim the San Francisco resident was already about 40 m ahead of one of the fastest swimmers in the sport, Dr. Amanda Stevens. By the end of the 2.4 miles swim in Tempe Town Lake Kessler’s lead was up to 1:38 on Stevens and over eight minutes on the women considered to be Kessler’s biggest rivals for the title: Heather Jackson and Lisa Huetthaler trailed by 8:36 and 8:44.
Through the first two-laps of the three-loop bike course Kessler put on a bike clinic, pulling away from all of the women in the field except Huetthaler, who managed to reduce her deficit to about 7:28 before a penalty put her in the penalty tent for four minutes.
Oh the third loop of the bike, though, Kessler started to succumb to the tough head wind and began to lose time on the women chasing her. Heather Jackson, competing in her first IRONMAN race as a professional, made the biggest move, gaining almost six minutes on Kessler to come off the bike in second, 6:56 behind. Huetthaler was third into T2 (10:15), with Stevens (11:20), and Katy Blakemore (16:12) rounding out the top five.
Through the early miles of the marathon Jackson looked like she might continue her charge to the front, but that quickly stalled as Kessler started to take control of the race. By the halfway point of the marathon Kessler was running around three-hour pace and was almost 10-minutes up on Huetthaler, who had passed a fading Jackson, who found herself just under 12-minutes behind Kessler.
From there on in there was never any doubt that Kessler would finally be getting the win that had eluded her for so many years. Her 3:07 marathon split was more than enough to ensure a solid win, her 8:50:41 getting her across the line 8:05 ahead of Huetthaler. Jackson held off Blakemore for third, while Stevens rounded out the top five.
An auspicious debut
When Brent McMahon is on he is really on. In 2013 he bested a stacked field to take the IRONMAN 70.3 US Pro Championship in St. George. In Tempe the former Olympian bridged up to David Kahn about a third of the way through the swim and hung on the American’s feet through the rest of the first leg. After finishing in just over 47 minutes, the two enjoyed a lead of about 50 seconds on a group of five that included Joe Umphenour (USA), Clemente Alonso Mckernan (ESP), Tim O’Donnell (USA), Paul Matthews (AUS) and Edo Van Der Meer (NLD). The other three contenders many expected to compete for the title, Maik Twelsiek, Jordan Rapp (USA) and Viktor Zyemtsev (UKR), finished the swim in just over 51 minutes.
Once on the bike Rapp and Twelsiek steadily gained time on the men ahead, but it was during the second loop of the bike that Rapp really put the hammer down. Riding in his patented aero power position, Rapp took the lead at the halfway point of the ride. Alonso Mckernan was the only man to stay within a minute of the American through the rest of the second loop, but by the halfway point of the ride even he had lost almost two minutes, while Twelsiek hung on in third just under three minutes behind. McMahon stayed in the mix at 3:24.
Like Kessler, though, Rapp found himself struggling over the final miles of the bike, possibly the victim of ambitious pacing into the strong winds. By the end of the bike Twelsiek had moved into second, 1:21 behind Rapp, while McMahon closed the bike strongly to come off in third, 3:23 back, with Alonso McKernan just six seconds behind.
Out on the run Twelsiek quickly gained time on Rapp, getting to within five seconds, but the American refused to relinquish the lead. A 1:20 half marathon would put McMahon in front of both of them, though, through 13 miles, and the Canadian never looked back. Twelsiek was first to fade, but eventually Rapp would get passed by Alonso Mckernan, too.
With his 7:55:48 finish (and 2:43 marathon) McMahon became just the 26th man to break the eight hour barrier and, we believe, the first to do so in his debut. Alonso Mckernan came oh-so-close to breaking the eight-hour barrier, too, his 8:00:42 got him second, while Rapp had to settle for third despite his 8:03:14. Twelsiek held on for fourth, just ahead of a hard charging O’Donnell, who rounded out the top five.