It was a Bennett Family Double at Ironman 70.3 Raleigh as triathlon stars Greg and Laura Bennett won the men’s and women’s pro titles at this inaugural North Carolina event.
Men
Greg Bennett trailed U.S. pro TJ Tollakson’s race-best 25:04 swim by 2 seconds – virtually the only time all day he would not lead.
By 26 miles of the bike leg, Bennett carved out a 1:23 advantage over Tollakson, a stellar cyclist himself. The rest of the field was further back – Ryan Rau, Kyle Pawlaczyk, Ryan Bates, Henry Hagenbuch and Paul Eicher were in a tight pack just under 6 minutes back.
At T2, Bennett’s race-best 2:06:53 split bettered Tollakson’s 2:10:20 by 3:45. Next in line were Eicher (-8:30) and Rau (-9:46), with Pawlaczyk, Bates and Henry Hagenbuch all just over 10 minutes back.
Bennett closed the door on the field with a race-fastest 1:17:22 run which brought him to the finish in 3:51:24 with a 13 minutes, 17 seconds margin of victory over runner-up Paul Eicher and 14 minutes 17 seconds over 3rd place finisher Kyle Pawlaczyk.
Women
Laura Bennett faced a much tougher fight than her husband. While her 24:41 swim topped Anna Cleaver by 1:34, Emma-Kate Lidbury by 1:49 and Melanie McQuaid by 3:44, Bennett’s lead was gone halfway through the bike leg. At 26 miles, Lidbury led Bennett by 4 seconds, McQuaid by 1:50, Beth Shutt by 6:54, Suzanne Zelazo by 7:08 and Jessica Jacobs and Anna Cleaver by 9:20.
At the end of the bike leg, Lidbury's race-best 2:20:22 split brought her to T2 with a 1:59 lead on Bennett, 3:28 on McQuaid and 9:54 on Shutt with Jessica Jacobs and her danbgerous run trailing by 14:05.
On her way to a 2nd-best 1:25:53 run, Bennett passed Lidbury and established a 55-seconds lead at Mile 6.4. By that point, McQuaid was 3rd, more than 6 minutes back.
Bennett finished in 4:17:18 with a 3:56 lead on Lidbury, whose 1:31:28 run gave up 5:35 to the winner. McQuaid, who ran 1:33:59, took the final slot on the podium, 5:42 back of Lidbury. Jessica Jacobs posted the fastest run – 1:24:29 – to advance her to 4th overall, 1:23 back of McQuaid.
Ironman 70.3 Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
June 2, 2013
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Greg Bennett (AUS) 3:51:24
2. Paul Eicher (USA) 4:04:41
3. Kyle Pawlaczyk (USA) 4:05:41
4. Ryan Rau (USA) 4:06:55
5. Mike Hermanson (USA) 4:07:53
6. Henry Hagenbuch (USA) 4:09:00
7. Ryan Bates (USA) 4:11:18
8. TJ Tollakson (USA) 4:14:01
9. Tom Wood (USA) 4:14:09
10. Andrej Heilig (GER) 4:18:47
Women
1. Laura Bennett (USA) 4:17:18
2. Emma-Kate Lidbury (GBR) 4:21:14
3. Melanie McQuaid (CAN) 4:26:56
4. Jessica Jacobs (USA) 4:28:19
5. Beth Shutt (USA) 4:32:31
6. Molly Roohi (USA) 4:38:30
7. Kelly Fillnow (USA) 4:40:59
8. Suzanne Zelazo (CAN) 4:44:33
