Joe Gambles set his second straight Ironman 70.3 course record by a mile and Becky Lavelle outran strong cyclist Heather Wurtele to take a 68-second margin for the win at Lake Stevens Ironman 70.3.
Gambles used a race-best 2:14:22 bike, 4 minutes 30 seconds faster than any of his competitors, and race-best 1:14:39 half marathon to earn a 7 minutes and 10 seconds margin of victory over runner-up Jeffrey Symonds of Penticton, British Columbia.
Gambles’ winning margin was a welcome contrast to his one-second sprint finish loss last year at Lake Stevens to Luke Bell. Gambles 3:56:36 finishing time broke Bell’s 2008 course record by 3 minutes 40 seconds.
Gambles' course record win was his second in a row, following his 3:49:18 at Vineman 70.3 last month.
Lavelle started the day with a race-best 25:58 swim that gave her a 1:18 margin over ITU star Samantha Warriner, 2:04 over two-time ITU World Champion and 2006 Ironman World titlist Michellie Jones, 2:13 over super-cyclist Wurtele, and just over 4 minutes on Xterra champion Melanie McQuaid of Canada and Ironman Hawaii 5th place finisher Linsey Corbin of Montana.
Wurtele took a 26-second lead over Lavelle at T2 after a race-best 2:32:56 ride, with Jones 3:05 back and Warriner trailing by 3:33. McQuaid, with a 2:35:34 bike, was 4:10 back starting the run and Corbin, after an uncharacteristically slow 2:42:11 bike, was 12 minutes back.
After a hard fought run, Lavelle’s second-fastest 1:24:29 run was 1:10 faster than Wurtele and hit the tape in 4:28:16, 68-seconds to the good. Jones, with a third-best 1:24:37 half marathon, took the final podium spot, 1:43 back of Wurtele.
McQuaid took 4th in 4:36:19, with Warriner 5th in 4:39:23. Corbin, making up some time for her bike with a race-best 1:24:22 run, came two seconds short of Warriner and took 6th.
Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens
Lake Stevens, Washington
August 16, 2009
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Top 10 men
1. Joe Gambles (AUS) 3:56:36
2. Jeffrey Symonds (CAN) 4:03:46
3. Justin Park (Chapel Hill NC) 4:07:26
4. Eric Limkemann (Daytona OH) 4:09:48
5. Jamie Whyte (NZL) 4:11:26
6. James Hadley (GBR) 4:11:41
7. Matt Lieto (Bend OR) 4:12:24
8. John Flanagan (Mililani HI) 4:12:44
9. Mike Neill (CAN) 4:15:02
10. Adam Jensen (Seattle WA) 4:15:21
Top 10 women
1. Becky Lavelle (Los Gatos CA) 4:28:16
2. Heather Wurtele (CAN) 4:29:24
3. Michellie Jones (AUS) 4:31:07
4. Melanie McQuaid (CAN) 4:36:19
5. Samantha Warriner (NZL) 4:39:23
6. Linsey Corbin (Missoula MT) 4:39:25
7. Alexis Smith (Monterey CA) 4:42:57
8. Britta Martin (NZL) 4:44:00
9. Crystal Anthony (Beverly MA) 4:46:54 * F25-29
10. Brianna Cash (Washington DC) 4:47:16 * F25-29
