Mauricio Mendez of Mexico erased a 3:53 deficit after the bike with a race-best 1:12:39 run to overtake race leader Tim O’Donnell of the U.S. in the final 2 kilometers to win the men ‘s title at Ironman 70.3 Texas.
Kimberley Morrison of Great Britain overcame a 3:04 deficit out of the swim with a dominating bike split and held off a strong run by Michaela Herlbauer of Austria to win the women’s division at the Galveston 70.3.
Men
O’Donnell trailed swim leader Antoine Jolicoeur by 3 seconds which put him 2 seconds ahead of Jarrod Shoemaker, 5 seconds ahead of Barrett Brandon, Mendez and Rodolphe Von Berg.
Halfway through the bike leg, O’Donnell carved out a 1:47 lead on Jolicoeur, 1:52 on Von Berg, 1:55 on Mendez and just over 3 minutes on Cody Beals of Canada and Matt Russell of the U.S. After a 3rd-fastest 2:02:50 bike split, O’Donnell held a 1:38 lead on Matt Russell, 2:33 on Stephen Kilshaw (2nd-best 2:01:50 bike split) 3:17 on Marc Duelsen, 3:40 on Von Berg and 3:53 on Mendez and Cody Beals of Canada.
After 5 miles, Mendez advanced to 2nd, 3:17 behind O’Donnell and 15 seconds ahead of Stephen Kilshaw, 21 seconds ahead of Matt Russell, 4:23 ahead of Marc Duelsen, and 4:49 ahead of Von Berg.
After 10 miles, O’Donnell had reason to worry as Mendez had chopped his deficit to 38 seconds and the rest of the contenders were more than 3 minutes behind. After his by-far best run split of 1:12:39, Mendez finished in 3:45:35 with a 44 seconds margin of victory and 3:26 over 3rd-place Von Berg.
This was the second Ironman 70.3 victory the young Mexican, the current XTERRA World Champion.
Women
Lauren Brandon of the U.S. led the swim in 25:31 which gave her a 1:44 lead on Sheila Treleaven, 2:58 on Kelly Williamson, 3:03 on Ewa Bugdol, 3:04 on Morrison and 3:13 on Michaela Herlbauer of Austria.
Morrison took off like rocket and by the end of the 56-mile bike leg had a 6:53 lead on Brandon, 11:13 on Maja Stage Nielsen of Denmark, 11:57 on Herlbauer, and 12:56 on Linsey Corbin.
With plenty of lead in the bank, Morrison cruised through a 1:33:21 half marathon to finish in 4:15:40 with a 2:20 margin of victory over Herlbauer, who made up 9 minutes and 16 seconds on Morrison but fell short of what would have been a miracle come from behind win. Brandon ran 1:31:25 to finish 3rd, 2:28 behind Herlbauer and 45 seconds ahead of 4th place Linsey Corbin, who closed with 1:26:16 run.
Austin, Texas local Kelly Williamson closed with a women’s-best 1:21:48 run but had too much ground to make up and had to settle for 7th place.
Ironman 70.3 Texas
Galveston, Texas
April 2, 2017
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Mauricio Mendez (MEX) 3:45:35
2. Timothy O’Donnell (USA) 3:46:19
3. Rodolphe Von Berg (USA) 3:49:01
4. Stephen Kilshaw (CAN) 3:49:14
5. Matt Russell (USA) 3:49:27
6. Marc Duelsen (GER) 3:50:16
7. Ivan Tutukin (RUS) 3:50:38
8. Raul Tejada (GTM) 3:50:53
9. Cody Beals (CAN) 3:53:56
10. Jonathan Shearon (USA) 3:55:34
Women
1. Kimberley Morrison (GBR) 4:15:40
2. Michaela Herlbauer (AUT) 4:18:00
3. Lauren Brandon (USA) 4:20:28
4. Linsey Corbin (USA) 4:21:13
5. Maja Stage-Nielsen (DNK) 4:22:18
6. Jessica Jones Meyers (USA) 4:24:31
7. Kelly Williamson (USA) 4:26:37
8. Kelly Fillnow (USA) 4:28:24
9. Heather Leiggi (USA) 4:30:19
10. Christen Brown (USA) 4:31:28
