This triathletic action is Hot! Hot! Hot! Especially the 70.3 race in the Philippines and the Challenge affair in Colonial Williamsburg. In addition to the steamy weather there were talented triathletes in Staffordshire and the off road crowd at XTERRA Richmond.

Josiah Middaugh and Suzie Snyder win XTERRA East at Richmond

Josiah Middaugh and Suzie Snyder won the 17th annual XTERRA East Championship held in the James River Park System on a typically hot and humid day in Richmond, Virginia. Both came from behind after the swim and took big leads on the bike. But Middaugh gave little quarter on the run and maintained a safe lead to the end while Snyder hung on for dear life fending off a charge by fellow American Emma Garrard.

Men

Middaugh, who decided at the last minute to race Richmond after winning the GoPro Mountain Games in his hometown last weekend, started a minute back of the top swimmers. But he quickly took the lead on the tricky Richmond mountain bike course that winds through rocks, mud and water. Middaugh could not shake Olly Shaw, but Shaw lost the thread when he suffered a flat and his contention was done.

By T2, Middaugh has a 3 minute lead on Braden Currie of New Zealand, 5:30 on Ryan Ignatz and Branden Rakita and 7 minutes on Chris Ganter. Currie - who came to this race after three straight wins at XTERRA New Zealand and Australia and the XTERRA Southeast champs - was discouraged. “I’m a bit gutted, really,” said Currie. I would have liked to be much closer to Josiah. It’s a bit annoying to fall off so much at the end.”

Middaugh finished with a 38:44 trail run that gave back 35 seconds to Ganter and 17 seconds to Ignatz but not to worry. His 2:19:53 finish led runner-up Currie by 3:47 and 3rd place Ignatz by 5:28.

Women

With the invincible Flora Duffy and a rejuvenated two-time XTERRA World Champ Lesley Paterson no shows, the women’s race turned out to be a showdown between Emma Garrard and Suzie Snyder. Garrard was coming off a win at the Mountain Games in Colorado while Snyder was not back to 100 percent after a crash at Pelham Alabama that gave her bruised ribs and a strained shoulder.

The duo posted equal 17:09 swim times that placed them 40 seconds behind Sara McLarty, Catherine Sterling and Christine Jeffrey. But 4 miles into the first lap, Snyder passed everyone and put two minutes on Garrard.

“I knew I would make my move on the bike course since I rode it every week last year for two months,” said Snyder. “I nailed the technical stuff and rode it clean, which kept my confidence high.”

By the end of the ride, Snyder’s 1:39:39 split was six minutes better than all of her rivals – but the race wasn't over. Garrard tore after Snyder and notched a race-best best 40:36 run split that was 4:50 faster than Snyder. But at the finish, her 2:43:58 split was 1:12 faster than Garrard and gave Snyder an XTERRA World Tour win (New Zealand) and an XTERRA U.S. Series victory (Richmond) so far in 2015.

“The run was tough,” said Snyder. “Emma was coming. I knew she was because that is what she does. I was just trying to run smart from the beginning because I knew the heat would take its toll later on. Towards the middle I had to do everything I could to put it out there and then my legs started cramping, so I needed to settle down before I blew it.”

XTERRA East Championship
Richmond Virginia
June 14, 2015

Results

Men

1. Josiah Middaugh (USA) 2:19:53
2. Braden Currie (NZL) 2:23:40
3. Ryan Ignatz (USA) 2:25:21
4. Chris Ganter (USA) 2:26:31
5. Branden Rakita (USA) 2:27:35

Women

1. Suzie Snyder (USA) 2:43:58
2. Emma Garrard (USA) 2:45:10
3. Catherine Sterling (USA) 2:50:23
4. Maia Ignatz (USA) 2:51:59
6. Kara Lapoint (USA) 2:54:38

Lucy Gossage and Javier Gomez win Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire

Lucy Gossage of Great Britain dominated the women's field and Ironman 70.3 World Champion Javier Gomez of Spain cruised to a 5 minutes victory over Markus Thomschke of Germany at Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire.

Women

Gossage started her day with a deficit of 2:53 to swim leader Georgie Rutherford, 2:04 to Samantha Warriner, and 1:11 to Susie Cheetham.

After a lightning fast 2:29:54 bike split – 13 minutes faster than the best of her pursuers, Gossage had it in the bag. After a women’s second-fastest 1:26:45 run split – bettered only by Chesham’s 1:24:49 – Gossage finished in 4:31:09 with a 10:19 margin on runner-up Cheetham and 15:27 over 3rd-place finisher Warriner, the 2008 ITU World Championship bronze medalist.

Men

Gomez led the swim in 23:34, which gave him 40 seconds margin on Will Clarke, 43 seconds on Michael Fox of Australia, 47 seconds on Romain Guillaume of France, 1:21 on Alexander Schilling of Germany and 3:13 on Thomschke.

Thomschke tuned on the jets on the bike posting a race-best 2:14:43 split which was 6:14 better than Gomez and gave the German a 3 minutes lead on Gomez and Guillaume starting the run.

Of course, when the run starts the 4-time ITU World Champion and current Ironman 70.3 World Champion is the man. By the finish, Gomez’s race-best 1: 13:32 run split was 7:50 better than Thomschke and 6:32 better than Guillaume. Gomez finished in 4:02:13 with a 5:20 margin on Thomschke and 6:54 on 3rd place finisher Guillaume.

Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire
Staffordshire, England
June 14, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Javier Gomez (ESP) 4:02:13
2. Markus Thomschke (GER) 4:07:33
3. Romain Guillaume (FRA) 4:09:07
4. Will Clarke (GBR) 4:11:10
5. Alexander Schilling (GBR) 4:17:39

Women

1. Lucy Gossage (GBR) 4:31:09
2. Susie Cheetham (GBR) 4:41:28
3. Samantha Warriner (NZL) 4:46:36
4. Georgie Rutherford (GBR) 4:48:15
5. Eleanor Haresign (GBR) 4:53:18

Vanessa Raw of Great Britain and Paul Reitmayr of Austria win Ironman 70.3 Italy

Women

Raw swam 28:08 and led Lisa Hütthaler by 21 seconds and multiple duathlon world champ Erika Csomor by 4:53. But once she started on two wheels, nothing else mattered as Raw streaked away to a dominating, women's-best 2:33:34 bike split which put 9:46 on Hütthaler and 8:42 on Csomor.

While Csomor’s women's best 1:24:10 run split took back 6:33 from Raw and Hütthaler’s 1:25:49 reduced her deficit by 4:54, the Great Briton finished the day in 4:38:13 with a 29 margin of victory on the Austrian and 6:33 on the Hungarian.

Men

Austrian Paul Reitmayr outdueled a trio of Italians with a race-best run and Vanessa Raw of Great Britain crushed Lisa Hütthaler of Austria and Erika Csomor of Hungary with a dominating bike split to win Ironman 70.3 Italy.

Alberto Casadei of Italy led the men’s swim in 24:51 which gave him a 34 seconds lead on Reitmayr, 1:42 on Jonathan Ciavattella, 1:46 on Xavier Torrades of Spain and 3:43 on Domenico Passuello of Italy.

Passuello made up almost all of his deficit with a race-best 2:12:40 bike split which put him in a tie for the lead with Casadei with Ciavattella 7 seconds back and Reitmayr just 20 seconds arrears. Game on.

Up against the cream of Italian 70.3 stars, Reitmayr proved up to the challenge as his race-best 1:18:52 run was 1:35 better than Casadei, 4:46 faster than Passuello and 7:22 quicker than Ciavattella. Reitmayr finished in 4:05:08 with a 1:30 margin of victory over runner-up Casadei and 4:47 over 3rd place finisher Ciavattella.

Ironman 70.3 Italy
Abruzzo, Pescara, Italy
June 14, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Women

1. Vanessa Raw (GBR) 4:38:13
2. Lisa Hütthaler (AUT) 4:42:42
3. Erika Csomor (HUN) 4:44:46

Men

1. Paul Reitmayr (AUT) 4:05:08
2. Alberto Casadei (ITA) 4:06:38
3. Domenico Passuello (ITA) 4:09:55
4. Jonathan Ciavattella (ITA) 4:12:40
5. Xavier Torrades (ESP) 4:22:35

Brad Kahlefeldt and Simone Brändli win inaugural Challenge Camsur

Australian Olympian Brad Kahlefeldt edged New Zealander Mike Phillips and Simone Brändli of Switzerland dominated the women's field to win the inaugural Challenge Camsur on a hot day in the Philippines.

“It was one of the hardest races I’ve done in my 20 years as a professional,” said Kahlefeldt. “It was so hard and it was a true test!”

Relative newcomer Mike Phillips of New Zealand finished 62 seconds behind Kahlefeldt. The two men virtually tied on the swim and the bike legs before Kahlefeldt outran Phillips 1:21:20 to 1:22:02 to secure the victory. While Kahlefeldt‘s résumé is full of Olympic and ITU World Championship glory, Phillips has made a promising start in 2015 with a win at Challenge Taiwan and this runner-up finish to the old lion in the Philippines.

Brändli and Radka Vodickova of the Czech Republic emerged from the swim just a second apart and well ahead of the rest of the field. Things looked like a duel on the bike as Brändli posted a women’s second-best 2:24:16 bike split which opened a 2:09 lead on Vodickova.

Perhaps it was the Philippines heat, but Vodickova could only muster a survival slog 1:34:17 run and Brändli cruised home with a 1:23:01 half marathon that brought her to the finish in 4:17:42 with a 12:59 margin of victory over Vodickova and 15:15 on 3rd-place finisher Jessica Fleming, whose day was highlighted by women's-best 2:23:21 bike split.

Yellow Cab Challenge Camsur
Lago del Rey, Philippines
June 14, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 3:56:33
2. Mike Phillips (NZL) 3:57:35
3. Mitchell Kibby (AUS) 4:13:25
4. Matt Burton (AUS) 4:31:17
5. Mitch Robins (AUS) 4:46:11

Women

1. Simone Brändli (SUI) 4:17:42
2. Radka Vodickova (CZE) 4:30:41
3. Jessica Fleming (AUS) 4:32:57
4. Renee Baker (AUS) 4:36:16
5. Monica Torres (PHL) 4:50:25

Meredith Kessler and Kevin Collington win Challenge Williamsburg

Multiple Ironman and Ironman 70.3 winner Meredith Kessler outpaced women's runner-up April Gellatly on the swim and run and Kevin Collington outran Matt Chrabot to win the overall titles at Challenge Williamsburg.

The biggest challenge of the day was the muggy conditions which made 90 degrees heat feel like 100-plus Fahrenheit and slowed run times to a survival pace.

Women

Kessler led the swim with a 26:32 split which put her 26 seconds ahead of Anna Cleaver, 31 seconds ahead of Jennie Leiser, 2:08 ahead of Katie Thomas and 4:17 ahead of April Gellatly.

While Gellatly did not win back any time, she only lost 47 more seconds to Kessler’s women's best 2:22:10 bike split and started the run 5 minutes behind. After a 28:40 swim and a 2:26:38 bike split, Katie Thomas trailed by 6 minutes at T2.

On such a hot day, Kessler took it easy on the run and her women's-best 1:35:50 split got her to the finish in 4:27:46 with a 13:42 margin of victory over Gellatly and 14:16 over 3rd-place finisher Thomas.

“This was the hottest race I’ve participated in,” said Kessler afterward. “Ever, ever! So all those athletes still out there – they’re amazing!”

“It's so nice to share the podium with Kevin,” added Kessler. “My fellow purplepatch [the name of Coach Matt Dixon’s squad] athlete. Our coach Matt must be doing something right.”

Men

Jake Montgomery led the swim in 24:28, followed by Matt Chrabot (+8 seconds), Kevin Collington (+11s), Alberto Alessandroni (+17s), John Kenny (+31s) and strong biker Chris Leiferman (+2:58).

Collington and Chrabot surged to the front on their way to respective 2:06:29 and 2:06:24 splits that put them a few seconds behind Montgomery (2:06:35 bike split) and gave them a 1:15 lead on Leiferman (race-best 2:04:44 bike split) and 2:20 on Alessandroni, who has been in contention for the lead until flagged for a 2-minute penalty.

“I’ve learned to race in the heat,” said Collington. “You just have to go steady and slow down and get what you need at the aid stations. If you try to gun it you wind up in the med tent.”

Collington took control on the run as his race-best 1:20:25 half marathon brought him home in 3:53:50 with a 5:32 margin of victory over Chrabot (1:25:51 run) and 7:15 over 3rd-place finisher Alessandroni (1:25:22 run).

Challenge Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Virginia
June 14, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Women

1. Meredith Kessler (USA) 4:27:46
2. April Lea Gellatly (USA) 4:41:28
3. Katie Thomas (USA) 4:42:02
4. Jennie Leiser (USA) 4:48:23
5. Alyssa Godesky (USA) 4:51:27

Men

1. Kevin Collington (USA) 3:53:50
2. Matt Chrabot (USA) 3:59:22
3. Alberto Alessandroni (ITA) 4:01:03
4. Chris Leiferman (USA) 4:04:05
5. Jake Montgomery (AUS) 4:07:25