Sam Long earned his first Ironman victory at age 23 thanks to a race record bike split and Angela Naeth’s women’s-best swim and bike splits outweighed Lisa Roberts’ women’s-best run to win pro honors at Ironman Chattanooga.

Men

Thanks to a positive river current, Canadian Antoine Jolicoeur Desroches set a speedy pace on the swim and his 43:02 split gave him a 1 1:13 to 1:17 lead on a trio that included Eliot Scymanski, Pedro Gomes and Nicholas Chase, and 4 minutes plus on a sextet including Andrew Talansky, Colin Laughery, Adam Feigh, Romain Babin, Sam Long and Jonathan Fecik.

After 32 miles of the bike leg, Desroches held a 2:06 lead on Feigh, 2:07 on Long, 2:11 on Russell, 2:12 on Gomes, 2:14 on Chase, and 4:19 lead on Talansky.

Soon thereafter, Long charged into the lead and at 57 miles opened a 1:38 lead on Feigh, 1:41 in Russell, 1:44 on Chase, 1:45 on Gomes and 5 minutes on Desroches. At 79 miles Long increased his lead to 2:28 on Russell, 4:25 on Chase, 4:27 on Gomes and 6:34 on Feigh. Soon thereafter, Long charged while his chasers fell back. Desroches pulled out the race with a mechanical issue. At that time, Russell lost the pace and trailed by 10 minutes while Chase took 2nd place, 9 minutes arrears.

After a race record 4:23:51 bike split, Long hit T2 with a 9.5 minute lead on Chase, who was shadowed closely by a rejuvenated Russell.

After 10.6 miles of the run, Long appeared to have locked up the race as he stretched his lead to 15:02 over Russell, 16:08 on Chase, 23:08 on Gomes and 28:26 on Patrick Brady. In the final miles, Long played his cards conservatively in the 95 degree heat as he took walking breaks to hydrate fully at aid stations. After a second-fastest 3:06:53 marathon – underlining the effect of the heat wave that hit the U.S. southeast – Long finished in 8:22:20 with a 9:28 margin of victory over Russell (race-best 3:06:05 marathon) and 27:09 over 3rd place finisher Chase.

With this performance, Long completed a Chattanooga double as previously won Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga. In addition, he won Victoria 70.3, took 5th at St. George 70.3 and finished 8th at Boulder 70.3.

Women

Katie Morales led the pro women's swim wave with a 48:21 split that gave her a 3:02 lead on Maddy Pesch and, among eventual contenders, 3:04 on Naeth, 5:29 on Lenny Ramsey, and 5:33 on Lisa Roberts.

After 32 miles on the bike leg, Naeth seized control by a 1:10 margin on Morales, 4:47 on Roberts, 5:53 on Pesch, 6:41 on Kelly Fillnow and 8:12 on Ramsey. By 105 miles, Naeth opened a wide gulf on her pursuers – 13:42 on Ramsey, 13:54 on Roberts, 14:08 on Morales and 19:55 on Fillnow.

After a 5:00:51 bike split – 8:54 better than the next best effort by Ramsey – Naeth had a 13:19 lead on Ramsey, 14:37 on Roberts and 18:28 on Morales.

Well known for her 3 hour Ironman marathon, Lisa Roberts had a sliver of a chance if Naeth faltered. Sure enough, at the 10.6 mile mark, Naeth’s lead on Roberts slenderized to 8:01 and her advantage over Ramsey dropped to 9:46. But after that, Naeth appeared to carefully allocate the bleeding. After a modest 3:20:47 marathon, Naeth hit the finish tape in 9:18:45 with a 3:46 margin of victory over Roberts (race-best 3:10:25 run split) and 8:31 over 3rd place Ramsey (3:16:36 run split).

This performance was Naeth’s third Ironman win, coming after sub-9 hour performances in victories at the 2015 Ironman North America and 2014 Ironman Chattanooga. Naeth also has 19 Ironman 70.3 wins.

Little Debbie Ironman Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tennessee
September 29, 2019
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Sam Long (USA) 8:22:20 S 47:42 T1 2:10 B 4:23:51 T2 1:47 R 3:06:53
2. Matthew Russell (USA) 8:31:48 S 47:48 T1 2:24 B 4:33:12 T2 2:22 R 3:06:05
3. Nicholas Chase (USA) 8:49:29 S 44:18 T1 2:59 B 4:36:00 T2 2:35 R 3:23:40
4. Patrick Brady (USA) 8:54:51 S 49:37 T1 2:35 B 4:47:29 T2 3:05 R 3:12:09
5. Adam Feigh ( ) 8:58:55 S 47:25 T1 3:11 B 4:39:21 T2 2:31 R 3:26:30

Women

1. Angela Naeth (CAN) 9:18:45 51:24 T1 2:39 B 5:00:51 T2 3:05R 3:20:47
2. Lisa Roberts (USA) 9:22:31 S 53:53 T1 2:40 B 5:12:58 T2 2:36 R 3:10:25
3. Lenny Ramsey (USA) 9:27:16 S 53:49 T1 4:39 B 5:09:45 T2 2:29 R 3:16:36
4. Kelly Fillnow (USA) 9:50:22 S 54:01 T1 3:04 B 5:19:25 T2 3:13 R 3:30:41
5. Kaitlin Allen (USA) 10:09:55 S 57:35 T1 3:08 B 5:29:51 T2 2:15 R 3:37:06