Matt Russell and Lauren Barnett won the pro titles at Ironman 70.3 Raleigh.
Men
Russell swam a 15th-best 28:14 split that left him 2:51 behind swim leader Eric Limkeman of the U.S., then blasted to the front halfway through a race-best 2:03:01 bike split that gave him a 3:46 advantage over Kyle Buckingham of South Africa at T2. Russell then sailed through a tied-for-3rd-best 1:18:31 half marathon to finish in 3:52:34, with a 4:48 margin of victory over James Hadley of Great Britain (race-best 1:16:58 run) and 7:22 over 3rd-place finisher Richie Cunningham of Australia (4th-best 1:19:39 run).
Justin Park took 4th, 50 seconds behind Cunningham and 34 seconds ahead of 5th-place Buckingham.
Women
Lauren Barnett avenged a narrow loss to Meredith Kessler at this race last year, but her day started with a significant deficit. Kessler led the swim in 26:57, 6 seconds ahead of Kaitlin Donner, 3:33 ahead of Lauren Capone, 4:30 ahead of Barnett, 4:33 ahead of Laura Siddall of Great Britain and 5:31 ahead of Alexandra Tondeur of Belgium.
After a women’s best 2:21:19 bike split which chopped 1:34 from Kessler’s lead, Barnett started the run 2:35 down to the defending champion, 26 seconds ahead of Laura Siddall, 1:15 ahead of Kaitlin Donner, and 2:58 ahead of Tondeur. Barnett went to work, steadily reducing Kessler’s lead to 2:07 at Mile 3.4, 1:12 at Mile 6.6, and 5 seconds at Mile 9.9. After a women’s-best 1:25:02 run, Barnett finished in 4:21:04 with a 1:42 margin of victory over Kessler (1:29:04 run), 6:07 over 3rd-place finisher Siddall (1:26:34 run), and 7:44 over 4th place Tondeur (1:25:24 run).
Ironman 70.3 Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
June 5, 2016
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Matt Russell (USA) 3:52:34
2. James Hadley (GBR) 3:57:22
3. Richie Cunningham (USA) 3:59:56
4. Justin Park (USA) 4:00:46
5. Kyle Buckingham (RSA) 4:01:20
6. Thomas Gerlach (USA) 4:01:57
7. Jacob Rhyner (USA) 4:02:41
8. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 4:05:45
9. Antoine Jolicoeur Desroches (CAN) 4:11:26
10. Iain Alexandridis (USA) 4:12:20
Women
1. Lauren Barnett (USA) 4:21:04
2. Meredith Kessler (USA) 4:22:46
3. Laura Siddall (GBR) 4:27:11
4. Alexandra Tondeur (BEL) 4:28:48
5. Lauren Capone (USA) 4:34:45
6. Annie Gervais (CAN) 4:36:48
7. Kelly Fillnow (USA) 4:40:12
8. Isabelle Rouleau (CAN) 4:45:57
9. Molly Roohi (USA) 4:47:34
10. Kaitlin Donner (USA) 4:49:59
