Terenzo Bozzone topped 2010’s best early season Ironman 70.3 men’s field, taking down Chris Lieto at Mile 11 of the half marathon and holding off Timothy O’Donnell’s run by 29 seconds at the Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 in Galveston, Texas. Lieto, who stormed to the front with a race-best 2:04:53 bike that put 3:41 on Bozzone, held off a 1:10:09 run by New Orleans 70.3 winner Andy Potts to take third. Potts held off an astonishingly fast – probably Ironman 70.3 world best ever -- 1:07:52 run by Bermuda’s Tyler Butterfield to take 4th.
Samantha McGlone, regaining the form that brought her the 2006 Ironman 70.3 World Championship and a second place at Ironman Hawaii in 2007, blazed past early leader Amanda Stevens two-thirds through the run to finish 64 seconds ahead in 4:17:22. Stevens’ 1:22:50 run held off the race-best 1:18:18 closing half marathon of Kelly Williamson by 36 seconds to maintain her runner-up finish.
The Men
Potts, who won the Ironman 70.3 race in New Orleans, started strong with a 25:24 swim that gave him a 1:20 head start on 2009 ITU long course World Champion Timothy O’Donnell, young British sensation Philip Graves and Bozzone, with TJ Tollakson (27:31), Ironman Hawaii runner-up Chris Lieto (27:49) and two-time ITU duathlon World Champion Paul Amey (27:51) of Great Britain another minute or so back. Tyler Butterfield, who had something to say on the run, trailed the leaders with a 28:21 effort.
Lieto soon took charge on the bike, blazing out front with typical ease to a race-best 2:04:53 clocking that gave him a 2:40 lead over Bozzone and 3:10 over O’Donnell at T2, while Potts gave away 9 minutes with a 2:13:55 clocking to trail the leader by 8 minutes starting the run.
Lieto, on his way to a decent 1:15:26 half marathon, held on for 11 miles until Bozzone took the lead. O’Donnell, back on 2009 form, closed the gap with a second-best 1:11:11 run that cut 26 seconds on Bozzone’s lead, but fell 29 seconds short at the line. Lieto managed to maintain third place and held off Potts’ second-best 1:10:09 run by 1:26.
But the sensation of the day was probably Tyler Butterfield’s blazing fast 1:07:52 run, which vaulted the Bermudan to a 5th place finish in 3:53:25, ahead of Amey (3:54:07), Tollakson (3:57:06) and Graves (3:58:260 who upheld his biker rep with a second-fastest 2:08:10 split but disappointed with a 1:21:05 run.
The women
Amanda Stevens started fast with a race-best 27:48 swim, that gave her a 2:03 margin on Kelly Williamson, 2:51 on Michellie Jones, 3:41 on McGlone, 4:50 on Desiree Ficker, and a stunning 11:51 on two time Olympic cycling medalist and multiple Ironman winner Karin Thuerig of Switzerland.
On the bike, Thuerig made up 11 minutes on Stevens and 8 minutes on McGlone with a sizzling 2:14:55 split that was equal to Butterfield’s time. At T2, Stevens had a 1:40 margin on McGlone, 1:42 on Australia’s Pip Taylor and a similar margin on Thuerig.
By Mile 2 of the run, McGlone had whittled Stevens’ lead to 56 seconds, with Thuerig next, 2:20 down; Taylor was hanging in 3:31 down and Kelly Williamson 4:07 back. At Mile 3.5, McGlone was 30 seconds down, Thuerig 2:30 back, Williamson 3:32 down, and Ficker 5:09 back and Taylor was fading toward a DNF.
Halfway through the run, McGlone finally passed Stevens to lead by 13 seconds, with Williamson 2:47 back, Thuerig 3:10 down and Ficker 4:29 in arrears. By Mile 11, McGlone extended her margin over Stevens to 46 seconds, and hit the tape with a 1:04 margin afforded by her run which was one second under 1:20:00.
Memorial Herrman Ironman 70.3 Texas
Galveston, Texas
April 25, 2010
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Terenzo Bozzone (Nzl) 3:49:06
2. Timothy O’Donnell (USA) 3:49:35
3. Chris Lieto (USA) 3:50:35
4. Andy Potts (USA) 3:52:01
5. Tyler Butterfield (Ber) 3:53:25
6. Paul Amey (Gbr) 3:54:07
7. TJ Tollakson (USA) 3:57:06
8. Philip Graves (Gbr) 3:58:26
9. Jeff Symonds (Can) 3:58:56
10. Stephen Kilshaw (Can) 4:06:08
Women
1. Samantha McGlone (Can) 4:17:22
2. Amanda Stevens (USA) 4:18:26
3. Kelly Williamson (USA) 4:19:02
4. Desiree Ficker (USA) 4:21:30
5. Karin Thuerig (Sui) 4:22:20
6. Michellie Jones (Aus) 4:25:23
7. Jessica Meyers (USA) 4:25:54
8. Malaika Homo (USA) 4:36:28
9. Heather Leiggi (USA) 4:38:08
10. Andrea Fisher (USA) 4:41:11
