Brent McMahon combined a fastest swim, second best bike split and fastest run to finish in 8:31:33 with an 8:54 margin of victory over fellow Canadian Jeff Symonds at Ironman Canada in Whistler BC.
While he was nowhere near the times of his career four sub-8 hour Ironman performances, McMahon was the best man on a hot day over a much harder course that left stellar performers like Marino Vanhoenacker fading into DNFs.
McMahon began his day with a race-best 51:37 swim in the non-wetsuit 22.5C waters of waters of Alta Lake, which gave him a 5 seconds lead on Mark Bowstead of New Zealand,8 seconds on Symonds, 9 seconds on Justin Metzler of the U.S., 1:40 on Stephen Kilshaw of Canada, 1:44 on Vanhoenacker of Belgium, 2:20 on Callum Millward of New Zealand, 3:22 on Tripp Hipple of the U.S., 6:12 on Nathan Killam of Canada, Andrew Talansky and Sam Long of the U.S., and 6:13 on Matt Russell of the U.S.
By 80 kilometers of the bike leg, Bowstead nudged into a 1 second lead on McMahon, 6 seconds on Symonds, 3:31 on former pro cyclist Talansky, 3:32 on Vanhoenacker, 5:24 to 5:26 on Long, Metzler and Hipple and 6:33 on Russell. After 166 km, Vanhoenacker revved up and took a 3 seconds lead on McMahon, 6 seconds on Bowstead, 2:58 on Talansky and 5:16 on Symonds with Metzler, Long, Hipple and Russell 6:37 to 7:35 arrears.
After a 2nd-fastest 4:43:36 split, McMahon entered T2 with a 21 seconds lead on Vanhoenacker, 1:27 on Bowstead, 3:54 on Talansky (race-best 4:40:26 bike split), 5:46 on Symonds, and 6:51 on Long.
In the first 3 kilometers of the run, Vanhoenacker showed signs of distress and fell to 9th place and 16 minutes down before dropping out.
After 8km, McMahon hit top form and built a 6:38 lead on Symonds, 8:10 on long, 9:38 on Metzler, 10:11 on Talansky, 12:22 on Hipple, 13:22 on Russell and 14:46 on Bowstead.
On the two-loop course that winds on the Valley Trail past Lost Lake and Green Lake, McMahon held steady with a 6:19 lead on Symonds at 23 km, with Long at +11:47 and Metzler at +12:13.
At 32 km, McMahon maintained a 6:23 lead on Symonds, but Matt Russell was pushing hard and passed Metzler for 4th and pulled within 16 seconds of Long for 3rd. Within a kilometer, Russell passed Long for 3rd place and held it to the finish.
After a race-best 2:53:16 marathon, McMahon finished in 8:31:33 with an 8:54 margin of victory on Symonds (2:56:24 run split) and 14 minutes flat on 3rd place Russell (2:56:58 run).
Ironman Canada
Whistler, BC, Canada
July 29, 2018
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Results
Pro Men Only
1. Brent McMahon (CAN) 8:31:33 S 51:37 T1 1:38 B 4:43:36 T2 1:28 R 2:53:16
2. Jeff Symonds (CAN) 8:40:27 S 51:44 T1 1:45 B 4:49:20 T2 1:16 R 2:56:24
3. Matt Russell (USA) 8:45:33 S 57:50 T1 1:53 B 4:46:25 T2 2:29 R 2:56:58
4. Sam Long (USA) 8:48:05 S 57:49 T1 1:46 B 4:44:05 T2 1:30 R 3:02:57
5. Justin Metzler (USA) 8:50:34 S 51:46 T1 1:53 B 4:50:04 T2 2:29 R 3:04:50
6. Nathan Killam (CAN) 9:09:31 S 57:48 T1 1:58 B 4:52:55 T2 2:25 R 3:14:28
7. Andrew Talansky (USA) 9:11:37 S 57:49 T1 2:06 B 4:40:26 T2 1:53 R 3:29:26
8. Mark Bowstead (NZL) 9:15:09 S 51:42 T1 1:46 B 4:43:34 T2 2:44 R 3:35:25
9. Tripp Hipple (USA) 9:17:02 S 54:58 T1 1:50 B 4:47:30 T2 2:54 R 3:29:52
10. Adam Feigh (USA) 9:18:47 S 57:44 T1 1:52 B 5:05:12 T2 2:34 R 3:11:27
