Heather Wurtele of Canada and Tim Don of Great Britain took top honors at Ironman 70.3 Monterrey.

Wurtele overcame a 1:40 deficit on the swim with a dominating 2:16:49 bike split that gave her a 3:10 lead at T2, and then finished with a women’s 2nd-fastest 1:22:02 run that brought her to the finish in 4:08:12. This gave her a 3:52 margin of victory over Camilla Pedersen of Denmark and 6:59 on 3rd-place finisher, 3-time Ironman World Champion Mirinda Carfrae of Australia.

Defending champion Don combined a 4th-fastest 22:49 swim, a 5th-fastest 2:04:38 bike split and a race-best 1:12:46 half marathon to finish in 3:42:53 with a 1 minute margin of victory over Trevor Wurtele of Canada and 1:44 over 3rd-place finisher Matt Chrabot of the U.S.

Women

Corrie Kristick of the U.S. led the women's swim in 24:51 which gave her a 4 seconds lead on Celine Schaerer of Switzerland, 5 seconds on Camilla Pedersen of Denmark, 11 seconds on Karen Thibodeau of Canada, 1:40 on Heather Wurtele, 1:46 on 8th place Mirinda Carfrae of Australia, and 1:51 on 10th place Liz Lyles of the U.S.

Halfway through the bike leg, Pedersen led Wurtele by 15 seconds, 1:06 on Kristick, 1:09 on Schaerer, 2:05 on Carfrae, 2:39 on Lyles, 3:08 on Thibodeau, and 5:46 on dangerous cyclist-runner Sarah Piampiano. After her 2:16:49 bike split, Wurtele led the women's field into T2 by 3:10 over Pedersen, 7:15 over Piampiano (2nd-best 2:20:08 bike split), 7:55 over Carfrae, and 9 minutes-plus over Lyles.

After 15k of the run, Wurtele was on cruise control with a 4:18 lead on Pedersen, 7:30 on Carfrae, and 9-plus minutes on Piampiano. By the finish, Wurtele’s women’s 2nd-fastest 1:22:02 run brought her to the line in 4:08:12 with 3:52 over Pedersen (1:22:35 run), 6:59 over Carfrae (1:20:48 run), 9:12 over Piampiano (1:23:14 run), and 11:46 over Lyles (1:22:13 run).

Men

Matt Chrabot led the men’s swim in 22:32 which gave him a 4 seconds advantage on Sylvain Sudrie of France, 15 seconds on Kevin Collington of the U.S., 17 seconds on Tim Don, 18 seconds on Vinicio Ibarra of Mexico, 21 seconds on Stuart Hayes of Great Britain, 23 seconds on Drew Scott of the U.S., 1:19 on Richie Cunningham of Australia, and 1:36 on Ben Hoffman of the U.S.

By 63 km of the bike leg, Wurtele led a train by 2 seconds over Sudrie, 5 seconds over Hoffman, 7 seconds over Chrabot, 8 seconds over Don, 10 seconds over Scott, 12 seconds over Collington, 13 seconds over Hayes, 1 minute over Cunningham, and 2:53 over Cody Beals of Canada. Sudrie then took over and led the men’s field into T2, 19 seconds over Don, 22 seconds over Chrabot, 24 seconds over Wurtele, 25 seconds over Hoffman, 26 seconds over Scott, 41 seconds over Collington, 3:06 over Cunningham, and 5:01 over swift runner Cody Beals.

By 6.5k into the run, Don led Sudrie by 11 seconds, Chrabot and Wurtele by 25 seconds and Hoffman and Collington by 1 minute. By 10.5 km, Don extended his lead to 28 seconds over Wurtele, and 31 seconds over Chrabot and Sudrie. At 17k, Don was fully in charge, 52 seconds ahead of Wurtele, 58 seconds ahead of Chrabot, 1:19 over Sudrie, 2:48 over Hoffman, 3:03 over Collington, and 6:06 over Beals.

By the finish, Don’s race-best 1:12:46 run brought him to the finish in 3:42:53 with a 1 minute margin on Wurtele (2nd-best 1:13:46 run), 1:44 over Chrabot (5th-best 1:14:25 run), 1:57 over Sudrie (1:15:02 run), and 3:30 over Hoffman (1:16:09 run). Cody Beals ran a 4th-best 1:14:03 run to take 7th, 5:56 down.

Photograph © Ironman.com

Ironman 70.3 Monterrey
Monterrey, Mexico
March 19, 2016
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Women

1. Heather Wurtele (CAN) 4:08:12
2. Camilla Pedersen (DEN) 4:12:04
3. Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 4:15:11
4. Sarah Piampiano (USA) 4:17:24
5. Liz Lyles (USA) 4:19:58
6. Emma Pallant (GBR) 4:25:49
7. Celine Schaerer (SUI) 4:27:09
8. Emma-Kate Lidbury (GBR) 4:27:15
9. Karen Thibodeau (CAN) 4:28:04
10. Saleta Castro Noqueria (ESP) 4:29:38

Men

1. Tim Don (GBR) 3:42:53
2. Trevor Wurtele (CAN) 3:43:53
3. Matt Chrabot (USA) 3:44:37
4. Sylvain Sudrie (FRA) 3:44:50
5. Ben Hoffman (USA) 3:46:23
6. Kevin Collington (USA) 3:47:48
7. Cody Beals (CAN) 3:48:49
8. Richie Cunningham (AUS) 3:49:27
9. Francisco Serrano (MEX) 3:49:31
10. Raul Tejada (GUA) 3:50:38