Andy Potts and Heather Jackson made it look easy in their wins at the inaugural IRONMAN 70.3 Coeur d’Alene.
Potts patience nets win
Josh Amberger (AUS) and Andy Potts (USA) was first to scamper up the beach together with Christian Kemp (AUS) Mark Bowstead (NZL) and Luke Bell following 30 seconds later.
It became was evident early in the bike that Potts, Amberger and Bowstead were the were the class of the field on the day in Idaho as the remainder of the field were going in reverse. Heading into T2, Amberger jumped off his bike first with Bowstead and Potts following him into the transition just seconds later.
Early into the run Potts moved to the front of race with Amberger and Bowstead following. Potts bumped his lead to over a minute on his two pursuers by the first half of the run. With Potts' familiar race strategy of keeping the field close on the bike, surging to the front early on the run then putting out enough effort to cinch the win in a comfortable fashion was evident once again in Coeur d'Alene. Potts executed this winning formula to a "T" in his victory over Amberger and Bowstead who both celebrated podium finishes on the day to the season veteran.
Jackson easy
Haley Chura (USA) returned to racing and showed she hasn’t lost anything with her usually strong swim. She had two minute leads Ellie Salthouse (USA) and Kelly Williamson (USA). Race favorite Heather Jackson (USA) found herself three and a half minutes off the pace however she now had her two strong suits to play in her her favor.
By 20 miles, Jackson had eliminated her deficit and started to quickly pad her lead at an alarming rate to other. At 30 miles, Jackson had a three-minute lead on Salthouse and stretched that advantage to over six minutes at the completion of the 56 miles.
Putting her race in cruise-control, Jackson clicked off the miles with a smile on her face for the spectators that lined the course. At he completion of the 13.1 mile run Jackson had built up an eight-minute winning advantage on Salthouse as Malindi Elmore (CAN) race best run on the day was rewarded with a third place finish.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Potts, Andy USA 3:54:45
2 Amberger, Josh AUS 3:56:49
3 Bowstead, Mark NZL 3:57:16
4 Hoffman, Ben USA 4:01:24
5 Bell, Luke AUS 4:03:02
Top 5 Pro Women
1 Jackson, Heather USA 4:19:34
2 Salthouse, Ellie AUS 4:27:44
3 Elmore, Malindi CAN 4:29:42
4 Huse, Sue CAN 4:34:47
5 Moench, Skye USA 4:35:20