With no more Life Time Fitness series to win, Cam Dye has been attacking the 70.3 realm with his swim and bike prowess, and took the lead as expected on the swim at Silverman. Dye’s 25:13 split was 3 seconds faster than Michael Raelert, 8 seconds better than Jonathan Tryoen and Barrett Brandon, 12 and 13 seconds better than Paul Matthews and Kevin Collington, and 90-plus seconds on Drew Scott and Matt Lieto. Behind these first packs, Canadians Taylor Reid (+2:35) and Cody Beals (+4:25) were still in the game.
After a race-best 2:12:59 bike split, Beals advanced to 2nd, 2:44 behind Cam Dye (2nd-fastest 2:14:51 split). After a 3rd-best 2:15:26 bike split, Jason Pederson was 3rd, 3:13 back of the leader, Drew Scott was 4th, 3:53 back, and Reid, after a 6th-fastest 2:18:06 bike split, trailed by 5:06.
After receiving his 3rd drafting penalty, 2-time Ironman 70.3 Word Champion Michael Raelert was disqualified.
After playing his aces on the swim and run, Dye was a target for the runners. By 3.24 miles, Beals pulled within 1:36, Pederson within 1:57, Drew Scott to 3:22, and Reid to 3:33. By 7.6 miles, Dye held on to a 37 seconds lead on Beals and 54 seconds on Reid. On the 10th mile, Reid reeled in Dye and took a 14 seconds lead.
On his way to a race-best 1:16:11 run that was 4 minutes or more faster than his nearest pursuers, Reid cruised home in 4:04:35 with a 1:26 margin on Beals (1:20:47 run) and 2:26 on 3rd-place finisher Cam Dye (1:24:32 run). Pederson took 4th, 57 seconds behind Dye and Chris Baird, after a 30:54 swim, and made up lots of ground with a 2nd-best 1:17:24 run to finish 5th.
Women
Lauren Brandon predictably led the swim in 26:03, gaining a 1:35 lead on Lauren Goss, 1:38 on up-and-coming pro Heather Lendway, and quite a bit more on well-known veterans with strong bike and run games Melanie McQuaid (+4:36), Kate Bevilaqua (+5:10), Jeanne Collonge (+5:57), and Abu Dhabi International winner Nikki Butterfield (+7:13).
Brandon, almost as strong a cyclist as swimmer, held off the hordes with a 4th-fastest 2:35:30 bike split. This gave her a 24 seconds lead on Lendway (4th-best 2:34:16 split), 3:11 on Jeanni Seymour (3rd-fastest 2:33:21 bike split), 3:56 on Jeanne Collonge (2nd-best 2:33:13 bike split), and 4:00 on Goss (2:38:03 bike split).
By mile 1 of the run, Lendway took a 6 seconds lead on Brandon, 3:11 on Goss, 3:16 on Seymour, 3:50 on Butterfield, and 3:57 on Collonge. By 8.5 miles, Goss took the lead with a 1:34 cushion on Lendway and 4:08 on Butterfield. By the finish of her women's-fastest 1:23:02 run, Goss crossed the line in 4:31:46 with a 4:23 margin of victory on Lendway (1:30:53 run) and 5:28 on 3rd-place finisher Butterfield (1:28:35 run).
Ironman 70.3 Silverman
Henderson, Nevada
October 4, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Taylor Reid (CAN) 4:04:35
2. Cody Beals (CAN) 4:06:00
3. Cam Dye (USA) 4:07:01
4. Jason Pederson (USA) 4:07:58
5. Chris Baird (USA) 4:08:11
6. Drew Scott (USA) 4:08:50
7. Kevin Collington (USA) 4:11:37
8. Matt Lieto (USA) 4:13:11
9. Paul Matthews (AUS) 4:13:55
10. Guy Crawford (NZL) 4:15:46
Women
1. Lauren Goss (USA) 4:31:46
2. Heather Lendway (USA) 4:36:09
3. Nikki Butterfield (AUS) 4:37:14
4. Lauren Brandon (USA) 4:42:18
5. Jeanni Seymour (RSA) 4:44:31
6. Sarah Jarvis (GER) 4:49:50
7. Malindi Elmore (CAN) 4:50:29
8. Jeanne Collonge (FRA) 4:51:25
9. Skye Murphy (USA) 4:51:43 * F25-29
10. Anne Basso (FRA) 4:54:30
