Lionel Sanders won it on the bike and the run while fellow Canadian Paula Findlay won a wire-to-wire domination of the pro women’s field at Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells.
Men
Sanders overcame a 2:58 deficit after the swim with a race-best bike split - 4:18 better than the next-best effort by Eric Lagerstrom of the U.S. - that launched the Canadian into the lead at Mile 39. Sanders’ race-best 2:00:59 bike split gave him a 1:37 lead on Lagerstrom and close to a 4 minutes on a chase pack including Nicolas Johnstone-Dougall of South Africa, Miki Taagholt of Denmark and Matty Franklin of New Zealand.
At 14k into the run, Sanders increased his lead to 3:44 on Lagerstrom and 7:05 on Taagholt. After a race-best 1:12:31 half marathon, Sanders finished in 3:43:37 with a 4:09 margin of victory over Slowtwitch Reader Forum regular Lagerstrom (1:14:59 run) and 7:59 over Taagholt (1:16:26 run).
Before and after an injury that cost him several months from his 2019 season, Sanders won Indian Wells 70.3 last year, won 2019 70.3s at Los Cabos and August and took 2nd at Ironman Mont-Tremblant this year.
Slowtwitch Reader Forum regular Benjamin Deal of the U.S. posted a second-best 1:12:39 run son his way to 4th place, 32 seconds behind Taagholt.
[Editor's note: We have no photo from the Indian Wells race itself. The photo above is a file photo. We originally published a different file photo, showing Lionel cycling, but not on the bike he actually rode during the race. To be extra clear: Lionel Sanders rides - last I checked - a Canyon Speedmax CF SLX 9.0., just like the photo below. Perhaps there's some irony here, because that file photo below actually was taken in the vicinity of Indian Wells, which is to say, it's the closest we have to a photo of the race we're covering here!]
Women
Paula Findlay, who rose to stardom with 5 wins on the ITU WTC Series in 2010 and 2011, won her second Ironman 70.3 race in dominating fashion with a wire-to-wire victory by over 7 minutes.
Findlay opened with a women’s-fastest 26:17 swim split that gave her a 46 seconds lead on Holly Benner of the U.S. and Elise Lagerstrom of the U.S., 51 seconds on defending champion Chelsea Sodaro of the U.S. and 2 minutes on Alisa Doehla and Alycia Hill of the U.S.
After 25 miles, Findlay increased her lead to 4-plus minutes on Benner and over 5 minutes on Sodaro and Doehla. After 39 miles, Findlay increased her gaps to 6:11 to 7:42 on Benner, Sodaro and Doehla.
After a women’s-fastest 2:15:59 bike leg - 6:59 better than the next-best ride by Doehla – Findlay arrived in T2 with a 6:55 lead on Benner.
After a women’s second-best 1:21:19 half marathon, Findlay finished in 4:07:37 with a 7:30 margin of victory on Doehla who closed with a women’s-best 1:20:04 run split, and 10:11 over Sodaro, who ran 1:22:59.
Findlay’s recent highlights include a 70.3 win at St. George 70.3, a 2nd place at 2018 Santa Cruz, a 2nd place at 2019 St. George, a 3rd at 2019 Chattanooga 70.3 and a 4th at 2019 Boulder 70.3.
Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells
Indian Wells-La Quinta, California
December 8, 2019
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Lionel Sanders (CAN) 3:43:37 S 26:37 T1 1:55 B 2:00:59 T2 1:47 R 1:12:31
2. Eric Lagerstrom (USA) 3:47:46 S 23:39 T1 2:01 B 2:05:17 T2 1:52 R 1:14:59
3. Miki Taagholt (DEN) 3:51:36 S 23:40 T1 2:01 B 2:07:32 T2 2:00 R 1:16:26
4. Benjamin Deal (USA) 3:52:08 S 26:03 T1 2:39 B 2:09:23 T2 1:27 R 1:12:39
5. Kevin Collington (USA) 3:53:06 S 24:45 T1 2:20 B 2:11:10 T2 1:32 R 1:13:21
Women
1. Paula Findlay (CAN) 4:07:37 S 26:17 T1 2:07 B 2:15:59 T2 1:57 R 1:21:19
2. Alissa Doehla (USA) 4:15:07 S 28:17 T1 2:29 B 2:22:08 T2 2:11 R 1:20:04
3. Chelsea Sodaro (USA) 4:17:48 S 27:08 T1 2:12 B 2:23:28 T2 2:03 R 1:22:59
4. Holly Benner (USA) 4:21:10 S 27:03 T1 2:03 B 2:22:12 T2 2:03 R 1:27:50
5. Sarah Bishop (USA) 4:25:59 S 32:13 T1 3:05 B 2:22:56 T2 2:04 R 1:25:42
