Guilherme Manocchio of Brazil and Carla Stampfli of Switzerland won the Agrosuper Ironman 70.3 Pucon Sunday.
Manocchio finished the South American classic in 4:01:59, topping runner-up and fellow Brazilian Santiago Ascenco by 4:33 and third place Michael Lovato of the USA by 5:16.
Defending champion Daniel Fontana of Argentina was off the podium due to a flat tire during the bike segment which cost him 10 minutes and ultimately left him in 7th place at the finish.
“This is the first time I won an Ironman 70.3,” Manocchio told Pucon media relations. “I was here in the year 2007 and I finished in the 5th position. I’m happy, because it was a hard race, especially in cycling.”
Manocchio emerged from the swim in 3rd place, 30 seconds back of top swimmers Lucas Cocha of Argentina and Fontana. Manocchio took control of the race on the bike where his 2:09:47 split was 62 seconds better than the next-best split of Cocha and 2:19 better than his toughest rival on the day, Santiago Ascenco of Brazil, and 2:37 better than Michael Lovato of the USA.
While Manocchio’s third-best 1:21:07 run split gave back 38 seconds to Ascenco, and 6 seconds to Fontana, it was good enough to get him to the finish in 4:01:59 with a 4:33 margin of victory over Ascenco and 5:16 over third place finisher Lovato.
Carla Stampfli, who competed for Switzerland in the 4x100 meter swim relay at the 2004 Olympics, won the women’s race in a time of 4:38:03, 2 minutes and 20 seconds ahead of runner-up Valentina Carvallo of Chile and 8:43 over third place finisher Heather Gollnick of the USA, a two-time former winner at Pucon.
Stampfli won wire to wire, posting the fastest women’s swim, a women’s race-best 2:29:31 bike, and a race-best 1:35:05 run.
The event was marred by the death of 30-34 age grouper Ivan Paez of Argentina. Race officials announced that Paez had a cardiopulmonary arrest during the cycling stage near the Pucon Aerodrome. Emergency technicians tended Paez at the scene, then transferred him to the Pucon hospital, but doctors could not resuscitate him.
Agrosuper Ironman 70.3 Pucon
Pucon, Chile
January 15, 2012
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Guilherme Manocchio (BRA) 4:01:59
2. Santiago Ascenco (BRA) 4:06:32
3. Michael Lovato (USA) 4:07:15
4. Lucas Cocha (ARG) 4:08:09
5. Mario De Elias (ARG) 4:10:16
6. Ben Hoffman (USA) 4:10:36
7. Daniel Fontana (ARG) 4:12:08
8. Andres Sorensen (NA) 4:21:30
9. Felipe Aguayo Paul (NA) 4:21:48
10. Christopher Pons Kosky (NA) 4:31:28
Women
1. Carla Stampfli (SUI) 4:38:03
2. Valentina Carvallo (CHI) 4:40:23
3. Heather Gollnick (USA) 4:46:46
4. Amanda Lovato (USA) 4:52:15
5. Ariane Monteceli (BRA) 5:01:15
