Craig Alexander looked sharp in his final Ironman Hawaii tune-up and Joanna Zeiger continued her red-hot Ironman 70.3 season as both of them handily triumphed at the Subaru Ironman 70.3 Muskoka Sunday in Huntsville, Ontario.

Alexander emerged from the swim in 4th, 20 seconds back of 5-time ITU World Champion Simon Lessing’s 25:00 split, then biked into the lead by a few seconds over a pack that included Canadian ITU star Brent McMahon, Aussie Richie Cunningham, Lessing, and USA upstart Daniel Bretscher. But then the 2007 Ironman Hawaii second place finisher put the hammer down with a race-best 1:13:48 run to finish in 4:10:31 and claim a 4-minute 27-seconds margin of victory over runner-up Richie Cunningham. Bretscher, of Greencastle, Indiana, ran a 1:19:50 to claim the final spot on the podium, as Lessing faded to 4th with a 1:22:25 run.

Zeiger came into Muskoka with the best women’s 2008 record at the 70.3 distance with wins at Eagleman 70.3 (4:22:32), Vineman 70.3 (4:19:58), the Boulder 5430 long course (4:18:07) and a second place to 2007 Ironman 70.3 World Champion Mirinda Carfrae at Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3 (4:27:29).
Zeiger, a two-time Ironman winner and 4th place finisher at the 2000 Olympics, won wire to wire with a race-best swim, and second-best bike and run to cross the line at this challenging course in 4:37:04 – 5 minutes and 45 seconds ahead of runner-up Rebeccah Wassner.

Zeiger emerged from Peninsula Lake in 26 minutes flat, 59 seconds ahead of Canadian pro Tereza Macel, 61 seconds ahead of Rebeccah Wassner and 1:36 ahead of Rebeccah’s sister and first-year pro and cancer survivor Laurel Wassner, 3:29 ahead of 11-time Ironman winner Lisa Bentley, and 5:52 ahead of slow-swimming, dangerous biker-runner Angela Naeth of Penticton, British Columbia.

By the end of the bike, only Naeth had made up any ground on Zeiger, whose second-best 2:41:45 bike left her with a 4:56 lead on Naeth, 5:39 on Rebeccah Wassner, 7:13 on Cynthia Wilson of Gatineau, Canada, 11:13 on Australian Ironman contender Charlotte Paul, and 12:59 on Bentley, whose 2:50:15 ride left her out of contention.

By the finish, Zeiger’s second-best 1:24:58 run only surrendered 17 seconds to Wassner, who passed Naeth near the end of the half marathon run to take second by a 38-seconds margin over the 26-year-old pro coached by Chuckie Veylupek. Bentley, still in Ironman Hawaii training mode, cruised in with a slow-for-her 1:28:24 run that left the 39-year-old Ontario resident 2 minutes 36 seconds behind 4th place finisher Charlotte Paul.

Subaru Ironman 70.3 Muskoka
Huntsville, Ontario, Canada
September 14, 2008
S 1.2 mi/ B 56 mi/ R 13.1 mi.

Results

Overall men

1. Craig Alexander (Aus) 4:10:31
2. Richie Cunningham (Aus) 4:14:58
3. Daniel Bretscher (USA) 4:16:43
4. Simon Lessing (Gbr/USA) 4:19:17
5. Janda Ricci-Munn (USA) 4:20:50
6. Brent McMahon (Can) 4:21:28
7. Santiago Ascenco (Bra) 4:22:14
8. R.J. Ross (Can) 4:22:59
9. Wolfgang Guembel (Can) 4:25:04
10. Swen Sundberg (Ger) 4:34:24

Overall women

1. Joanna Zeiger (USA) 4:37:04
2. Rebeccah Wassner (USA) 4:42:49
3. Angela Naeth (Can) 4:43:27
4. Charlotte Paul (Aus) 4:49:45
5. Lisa Bentley (Can) 4:52:21
6. Cynthia Wilson (Can) 4:53:00
7. Annie Gervais (Can) 4:58:39
8. Paolina Allan (Can) 5:01:30
9. Kelly McKean (USA) 5:10:28 * W 30-34
10. Leslie Sanderson (Can) 5:11:32 * W40-44