Chris Legh uncorked a race-fastest run to pull away from Timothy O’Donnell and Mirinda Carfrae smashed the women’s field to prevail at Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens.

Legh, the 40-year-old Australian 70.3 master, overcame a 72-seconds deficit after the bike to overtake Timothy O’Donnell with a race-best 1:14:26 half marathon. Legh’s 4:01:29 finish left runner-up O’Donnell 20 seconds in his dust and third place Trevor Wurtele of Canada another 40 seconds back.

Carfrae, the 2010 Ironman World Champion, overcame a 1:58 deficit to Canada’s Tenille Hoogland after the swim with a 2nd-fastest 2:37:43 bike split and her usual race-best 1:19:31 run to bring the Australian to the line in 4:26:38 with a 6:35 margin of victory over top amateur Sheila Croft of nearby Redmond, Washington and an 11 minutes 50 seconds margin over 3rd-place finisher and 2nd pro Hoogland.

Carfrae's time broke the race record set in 2010 by Melanie McQuaid by 38 seconds.

Croft, the women’s 35-39 and overall women’s amateur champion, set the women’s fastest bike split – her 2:33:53 was 3:50 faster than the next best bike split set by Carfrae. Croft also posted the third fastest overall women’s run split – 1:24:32.

Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens
Lake Stevens, Washington
July 15, 2012
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Chris Legh (AUS) 4:01:29
2. Tim O’Donnell (USA) 4:01:49
3. Trevor Wurtele (CAN)4:02:29
4. Karl Bordine (USA) 4:14:16
5. Chris Bagg (USA) 4:14:37
6. Rob Lea (USA) 4:17:07 * M30-34
7. Matthew Russell (USA) 4:17:45
8. Andrew Mullenix (USA) 4:18:48 * M30-34
9. David Condon (USA) 4:22:13 * M35-39
10. Kyle Hummel (USA) 4:22:45 * M30-34

Women

1. Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 4:26:38
2. Sheila Croft (USA) * F35-39
3. Tenille Hoogland (CAN) 4:38:28
4. Madison Mackenzie (USA) 4:42:27
5. Uli Bromme (USA) 4:42:48
6. Gillian Clayton (CAN) 4:45:11
7. Beth Walsh (USA) 4:45:38
8. Christine Anderson (USA) 4:48:28
9. Lauren Capone (USA) * F18-24
10. Christine Fletcher (CAN) 4:53:34