Andy Potts of Colorado Springs won his third Ironman title in near record time and mother of three Jessie Donavan of Shelburne, Vermont won the women’s title at Ironman USA Lake Placid.

The Men

Potts dominated the day with a 45:01 swim, a 4:44:23 bike on Lake Placid’s hilly, two-loop course and a 2:52:48 marathon run to finish in 8:25:00 with a 31 minutes and 42 seconds margin of victory over Pete Jacobs of Australia and 43:50 over 3rd place French pro Roman Guillaume.

Potts' win was his third Ironman title, coming after his Ironman Coeur d’Alene and Ironman Cozumel wins in 2010.

Potts’ Lake Placid win adds another highlight to his already excellent 2012 which includes a 5th win at Escape From Alcatraz and 3rd win at Ironman 70.3 California.

Potts, operating alone and out front almost all the day, came within 1:48 of Simon Lessing’s 2004 race record.

Jacobs, an impressive second place finisher to record-breaking Craig Alexander at the Ironman World Championship last October, was obviously not well and off form and simply slogged through the day to validate his entry for the 2012 Ironman World Championship. Jacobs’ splits were a 47:10 swim, 5:02:35 bike and a 3:02:36 run.

Guillaume was in contention through a 50:00 swim and a 4:47:47 bike split, but fell back with a 3:26:08 run.

The Women

The top two women at the end of the day started way back after the swim. Jessie Donavan (1:09:00) and Jennie Hansen (1:09:58) were 14:42 and 15:40 back of eventual 3rd place finisher Kathryn Thomas after the 2.4-mile swim. Donavan, the runner-up at Ironman St. George and 6th at Ironman 70.3 Puerto Rico, then made up all that deficit with a race-best bike split of 5:19:40 that left her virtually tied with Thomas at T2 and 8 minutes ahead of Hansen.

On the run, Donavan made quick work of Thomas and her 3:13:32 marathon gave back only 1:14 to Hansen, thus leaving Donavan with a 9:01 margin of victory.

Ironman USA Lake Placid
Lake Placid, New York
July 22, 2012
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Andy Potts (USA) 8:25:00
2. Pete Jacobs (AUS) 8:56:42
3. Romain Guillaume (FRA) 9:08:50
4. Matthew Russell (USA) 9:16:36
5. David Morris (USA) 9:18:14 * M30-34
6. Vinny Johnson (USA) 9:32:51 * M35-39
7. Douglas Maclean (USA) 9:33:18
8. Brad Seng (USA) 9:34:29
9. Timothy Tapply (USA) 9:36:06
10. Logan Franks (USA) 9:36:56

Women

1. Jessie Donavan (USA) 9:47:32
2. Jennie Hansen (USA) 9:56:33
3. Jacqui Gordon (USA) 10:08:21
4. Suzanne Serpico (USA) 10:14:15
5. Kelly Fillnow (USA) 10:19:42
6. Leslie LaMacchia (USA) 10:36:48
7. Angie Defilippi (USA) 10:45:38 * F35-39
8. Christine Kachinsky (USA) 10:48:41 * F40-44
9. Willow Harrington (USA) 10:51:39 * F30-34
10. Pia Mountford (USA) 10:52:18 * F40-44