Photos by Talbot Cox

Melissa Hauschildt of Australia and Ben Kanute of the United States won hard fought victories on a teeth-chattering cold day at Ironman 70.3 Texas.

Hauschildt overcame a 3:25 deficit after the swim and 3:48 to Morrison after the bike with a women’s-best 1:18:07 half marathon to finish in 4:07:55 with a 1:55 margin of victory over comeback mom Mirinda Carfrae and 2:05 over 3rd place finisher Heather Wurtele of Canada.

Kanute led the swim by 31 seconds, trailed überbiker Andrew Starykowicz by 1:39 after the bike leg, then swept past Starky on the run. Kanute then held off late race surges by better runners Michael Weiss and Matt Hanson to finish in 3:43:44 with a 1:46 margin of victory over Weiss and 2:46 over 3rd place finisher Starykowicz.

WOMEN

Laurence Delisle of the U.S. led the swim in 24:17 which gave her a 1:10 lead on Rachel Olson of the U.S., 1:14 on Haley Chura of the U.S., 3:16 on Kimberly Morrison of the U.S., 3:21 on Heather Wurtele of Canada, 3:25 on Melissa Hauschildt of Australia, 3:27 on Mirinda Carfrae of Australia and 4:12 on Emma-Kate Lidbury of Great Britain.

Fifteen miles into the bike leg, Morrison seized the lead by 34 seconds on Delisle, 47 seconds on Chura, 1:43 on Wurtele, 1:46 on Hauschildt, 1:47 on Carfrae, 2:17 on Olson and 4:43 on Jodie Robertson of the U..

Halfway through the bike leg, Morrison increased her lead to 2:28 on Delisle, 2:33 on Hauschildt, 2:36 on Wurtele, 2:40 on Chura and 2:41 on Carfrae.

After a women’s-best 2:15:24 bike split, Morrison arrived in T2 with a 3:48 lead on Hauschildt, 3:52 on Wurtele, 5:04 on Carfrae, and 8:11 on Robertson.

Three miles into the run, Morrison held on to a shrinking lead on a Murderers Row of swift footed runners - by 2:28 on Hauschildt and Wurtele and 3:51 on Carfrae.

At 7 miles, Hauschildt took the lead by 6 seconds on Morrison, 33 seconds on Wurtele, and 1:36 on Carfrae. By 9:38 miles, Hauschildt led Wurtele by 1:02 and Morrison was maintaining a 12 seconds lead on Carfrae.

After a women’s-best 1:18:07 run split, Hauschildt finished in 4:07:55 with a 1:55 margin of victory on Carfrae (second-best 1:18:49 run) and 2:04 on 3rd place Heather Wurtele (1:20:18 run split). After a 1:25:34 run, Morrison took 4th place, 1:41 behind Wurtele.

MEN

U.S. Olympian Ben Kanute led the swim in 23:19, which gave him a 31 seconds lead on Andrew Keily, 46 seconds on Antoine Joliecoeur Desroches, 54 seconds on Daniil Sapunov of Ukraine, 56 seconds on Andreas Giglmayr of Austria, 59 seconds on Paul Matthews of Australia and Taylor Reid of Canada, 1:01 on Andrew Starykowicz of the U.S., 1:01 on Ivan Tutukin of Russia, 2:00 on Cody Beals of Canada, 2:01 on Trevor Wurtele of Canada, 2:04 on Matt Hanson of the U.S. and 2:46 on Michael Weiss of Austria.

By 15 miles into the bike leg, Kanute held a 32 seconds lead on Starykowicz, 2:03 on Matthews, 2:06 on Reid, 2:30 on Gigilmayr, 2:37 on Tutukin, 2:39 on Weiss, 2:48 on Beals, 2:57 on Sapunov and 3:03 on Matt Russell of the U.S.

After a race-best 2:00:56 bike split, Starky led the field into T2 by 1:39 on Kanute, 5:38 on Weiss, 6:43 on Hanson and Matthews , 6:44 on Reid, 6:48 on Russell and 6:52 on Trevor Wurtele.

By Mile 4 of the run, Kanute passed Starky and led by 33 seconds, followed by Weiss (+3:56), Matthews (+5:09), Reid (+5:21) Hanson (+5:38) Raul Tejada (+5:43), Wurtele (+5:56) and Russell (+6:15).

By 7 miles, Kanute stretched his lead to 1:27 on Starykowicz. At 9 miles, Kanute led Starky by 1:42, Weiss by 2:24, Hanson by 3:53, Matthews by 4:56, Wurtele by 5:52, Russell by 6:04 and Reid by 6:09.

After a 23:19 swim, a 2:03:46 bike split and 1:14:16 run, Kanute finished first in 3:43:44 with a 1:56 margin of victory on Weiss and 3:47 on 3rd place Starykowicz. Matt Hanson finished fast with a 1:11:00 run but fell 18 seconds short of overtaking Starykowicz, who hung on to his podium slot with a 1:18:12 run.

Ironman 70.3 Texas
Galveston, Texas
April 8, 2018
S 1.2 / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Women

1. Melissa Hauschildt (AUS) 4:07:55 S 27:42 T1 1:43 B 2:18:50 T2 15 R 1:18:07
2. Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 4:09:50 S 27:43 T1 1:34 B 2:20:14 T2 1:32 R 1:18:49
3. Heather Wurtele (CAN) 4:09:59 S 27:38 T1 1:35 B 2:19:06 T2 1:24 R 1:20:18
4. Kimberly Morrison (USA) 4:11:40 S 27:32 T1 1:31 B 2:15:24 T2 1:41 R 1:25:34
5. Jodie Robertson (USA2:04 4:14:58 S 29:22 T1 3:06 B 2:20:10 T2 28 R 1:19:54

Men

1. Ben Kanute (USA) 3:43:44 S 23:19 T1 1:21 B 2:03:46 T2 1:04 R 1:14:16
2. Michael Weiss (AUT) 3:45:30 S 26:04 T1 2:02 B 2:04:19 T2 1:44 R 1:11:32
3. Andrew Starykowicz (USA) 3:46:30 S 24:19 T1 1:33 B 2:00:56 T2 1:33 R 1:18:12
4. Matt Hanson (USA) 3:46:48 S 25:22 T1 1:37 B 2:06:31 T2 2:20 R 1:11:00
5. Paul Matthews (AUS) 3:49:09 S 24:17 T1 1:20 B 2:07:53 T2 1:08 R 1:14:33