Despite daylong pressure by Jackie Hering of the U.S., Ellie Salthouse of Australia won the women’s crown by a 1:09 margin over Hering and 13:49 over third place Ali Brauer of the U.S. on a rainy day at Ironman 70.3 Memphis.
Coming into this race after a win at Ironman 70.3 Des Moines and a second at Augusta 70.3, Jason West of the U.S. combined a 2nd-best 25:24 swim, a 5th-fastest 2:06:34 bike split and a race-best 1:09:17 half marathon to finish in 3:45:05 with a 1:35 margin over Bradley Weiss of South Africa and 4:23 over Marc Dubrick of the U.S.
Women
Salthouse and Ali Brauer of the U.S, emerged from the water 27:23 and 27:25, with a half minute lead on Hering and 2:38 on Laura Matthews of the U.S. After a 90 km bike through a thick rainstorm, Salthouse posted a women’s-swiftest 2:18:35 split which gave her a 4:43 lead on Hering and 4:49 on Bauer with the rest of the 8-women field 22:29 to 30:03 arrears.
Powered by her typically strong run, Hering cut her deficit to 2 minutes after 10 miles. While Hering ran a women’s-best 1:18:20, she ran out of road and t railed Salthouse by 1:09 at the wire. While out of contention for the win, Brauer could muster only a 1:30:49 run to take the final slot on the podium, 13:49 behind the winner.
Men
With Sam Appleton a non-starter, Marc Dubrick of the U.S. had an open shot at the fastest swim, and his 24:24 split gave him a minute lead on Jason West and 1:02 through 1:11 on a pack of nine men including Marty Andrie of the U.S., Ben Hoffman, Danilo Pimental of Brazil, Bradley Weiss of South Africa, Ian Hoover-Grinde of the UK, Timothy Reed of Australia, Andre Lopes of Brazil, and Elliot Bach of the U.S. George Goodwin of Great Britain was not in the form that brought him a top finish at Challenge Daytona last December, and he fell 3:17 behind the lead chase pack.
Just six days after finishing 3rd at Ironman Chattanooga and 2nd previously at Augusta 70.3, Ben Hoffman managed to get a 26 seconds gap on Bradley Weiss. Tim Reed of Australia led the chasers a minute back of Hoffman, with Goodwin arriving in T2 3 minutes back.
Starting the run, Hoffman’s legs appeared to suffer due to his effort at Chattanooga and faded as West and swim leader Dubrick took charge at the front.
West, who won Ironman 70.3 Des Moines and took 2nd at Augusta 70.3, carved out a minute lead halfway through the run with Dubrick and Bradley Weiss battling for second.
No change in the order during the second half of the run as West finished with a 1:35 winning margin over two-time XTERRA World Champion Weiss and 4:23 over third-place finisher Dubrick.
Ironman 70.3 Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
October 2, 2021
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Pro Women
1. Ellie Salthouse (AUS) S 27:23 T1 3:10 B 2:18:35 T2 1:41 R 1:21:48 TOT 4:12:35
2. Jackie Hering (USA) S 28:28 T1 3:03 B 2:22:21 T2 1: 34 R 1:18:20 TOT 4:13:44
3. Ali Brauer (USA) S 27:25 T1 3:13 B 2:23:19 T2 1:40 R 1:30:49 TOT 4:26:25
4. Jessica Jones (USA) S 30:14 T1 4:03 B 2:38:46 T2 2:18 R 1:30:04 TOT 4:45:23
5. Sierra Snyder (USA) S 30:18 T1 3:40 B 2:42:09 T2 2:12 R 1:30:36 TOT 4:48:53
6. Danielle Treise (USA) S 31:52 T1 3:32 B 2:43:48 T2 1:51 R 1:29:03 TOT 4:50:04
7. Laura Matthews (USA) S 30:11 T1 3:54 B 2:37:32 T2 2:18 R 1:50:17 TOT 5:04:10
Pro Men
1. Jason West (USA) S 25:24 T1 2:41 B 2:05:34 T2 1:10 R 1:09:17 TOT 3:45:05
2. Bradley Weiss (RSA) S 25:31 T1 2:56 B 2:05:40 T2 1:39 R 1:10:56 TOT 3:46:40
3. Marc Dubrick (USA) S 24:24 T1 2:42 B 2:07:37 T2 1:16 R 1:13:31 TOT 3:49:38
4. Andre Lopes (BRA) S 25:33 T1 2:45 B 2:06:19 T2 1:23 R 1:16:05 TOT 3:52:04
5. Marty Andrie (USA) S 25:26 T1 2:42 B 2:07:16 T2 1:28 R 1:16:5`1 TOT 3:53:40
6. Danilo Pimental (BRA) S 25:29 T1 2:46 B 2:06:30 T2 1:18 R 1:17:47 TOT 3:53:48
7. Timothy Reed (AUS) S 25:32 T1 2:49 B 2:06:14 T1 1:28 R 1:19:37 TOT 3:55:40
8. Ben Hoffman (USA) S 25:28 T1 2:55 B 2:05:18 T2 1:35 R 1:21:16 TOT 3:56:30
9. Elliot Bach (USA) S 25:35 T1 2:47 B 2:06:18 T2 1:23 R 1:23:00 TOT 3:59:02
10. George Goodwin (GBR) S 27:41 T1 3:06 B 2:06:15 T2 1:24 R 1:25:09 TOT 4:03:33
