Drew Scott of the U.S. grabbed a 5:15 lead on the bike then held off a fast closing run by Christian Kemp of Australia and Magali Tisseyre of Canada dominated the women's field to take the elite titles at Ironman 70.3 Silverman.

Men

Christian Kemp led the swim in 23:48, 3 seconds ahead of Drew Scott, 7 seconds up on Jonathan Tryoen of France, and 10 seconds ahead of Will Clarke of Great Britain with the rest of the field 3 to 4 minutes back.

After 26 miles of the bike leg, Scott jumped out to a 21 seconds lead on Kemp and 26 seconds on Will Clarke of Great Britain with Tom Lowe of Great Britain 3:29 arrears and five men 4 to 6 minutes back. By the bike finish, Scott had posted a race-best 2:25:15 split that was 5:15 ahead of Kemp, 7:48 ahead of Thomas Gerlach, 8:35 ahead of Stephen Kilshaw and 10:51 ahead of Frederic Limousin of France.

Following a 3 ½ month hiatus due to a foot injury this year, Scott came slowly back to form – a 12th at Boulder Peak 5i50 followed by 3rd at Kansas 5i50 a week later. Six weeks later, he was fit enough to go longer and took 4th at Princeton 70.3. But with a big lead and a win on the line, Scott had to be nervous about his ability to hold off Kemp for a half marathon.

By 9 miles, Kemp had whittled Scott’s lead to 1:41 – right on schedule to eke out a win. But in the final four miles, Scott gathered all his strength and in fact added 3 seconds to his diminishing lead, hitting the finish in 4:19:07 after an 8th-best but good-enough 1:27:04 run split to give him a 1:44 margin of victory over Kemp and 4:02 ahead of 3rd-place finisher Thomas Gerlach.

While Scott was struggling with his injury-caused lack of run training, early in the season before his injury he proved he had winning form with a victory at New Orleans 5i50 in March.

Women

Not unlike Drew Scott, Magali Tisseyre had been fighting injury last year and at the beginning of 2014. Her body started coming around in June with a 4th at Hawaii 70.3 and a 4th at Ironman 70.3 Mt. Tremblant, then a 10th up against a deep and very talented field at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship, also at Mt. Tremblant.

Lauren Goss was first out of the water in 25:09, 1:46 ahead of Tisseyre and much more ahead of Mackenzie Madison of the U.S. (+4:16), Vanessa Giannini of Brazil (+5:00) and Laura Siddall of Great Britain (+5:21).

Half through a race-best 2:421:01 bike split, Tisseyre had a 59 seconds lead on Goss and everyone else was out of the picture. By the end of the bike leg. Tisseyre led Goss by 1:30 and Mackenzie Madison was hoping to hold 3rd, 10:23 back of the leader.

Tisseyre, on her way to a by-far-best women’s run split of 1:25:05, has increased her lead on Goss to 3:26 and 13:30 on Madison. By the end, Tisseyre could cruise to a 4:36:22 finish with an 11:31 margin of victory on Goss and 22:57 ahead of 3rd place finisher Madison.

While Tisseyre could take some satisfaction that she had returned to contention and a top 10 at 70.3 Worlds, today’s performance showed that she had returned to the form that brought her two bronze medals at the Ironman 70.3 Worlds last decade.

Ironman 70.3 Silverman
Henderson, Nevada
October 5, 2014
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Drew Scott (USA) 4:19:07
2. Christian Kemp (AUS) 4:20:31
3. Thomas Gerlach (USA) 4:23:09
4. Stephen Kilshaw (CAN) 4:24:34
5. Frederic Limousin (FRA) 4:28:59

Women

1. Magali Tisseyre (CAN) 4:36:22
2. Lauren Goss (USA) 4:47:54
3. Mackenzie Madison (USA) 4:59:19
4. Laura Siddall (GBR) 5:00:12
5. Katya Meyers (USA) 5:05:10