Lionel Sanders scores a home country win and Meredith Kessler of the U.S. tops the women’s field at Ironman 70.3 Mont Tremblant.
MEN
Sanders started with a 9th-best 24:15 swim – much improved over his early career marks – which put him 1:10 back of the men’s swim leader Antoine Jolicoeur Desroches, 1:08 back of Canadian Brent McMahon and 1:06 back of his likely race rival, currently hot American Rudy Von Berg.
At 33km into the bike leg, Sanders played it cool in 5th place, 46 seconds off a leading group including Hunter Lussi and Von Berg of the U.S. and Canadians Jackson Laundry and McMahon.
By 65km into the bike leg, Sanders took over, leading Lussi by 1:05, Laundry by 1:27, Von Berg by 1:30, McMahon by 1:32, Andrew Yoder of the U.S. by 3:18, Sam Betten of Australia by 8:05, and and Matt Russell of the U.S. by 8:45.
After a race-best 2:02:20 bike split, Sanders arrived at T2 with a 1:49 lead on Laundry, 1:52 on McMahon, 1:53 on Von Berg, 4:16 on Lussi, 5:24 on Yoder, and 8:55 on Russell.
Halfway through the half marathon, Sanders expanded his lead to 2:24 on Von Berg and 3:47 to McMahon and Laundry.
After a race-best 1:11:24 half marathon, Sanders finished in 3:40:58 with a 3:04 margin of victory over Von Berg, who closed with a 1:12:47 run to take 2nd. McMahon closed with a 1:14:34 run to take the final spot on the podium, 4:55 behind the winner.
The victory adds to Sanders’ strong 2018 results which include a win at Pucon 70.3, a 2nd to Jan Frodeno at Oceanside 70.3, and wins at St. George 70.3 and Challenge Samorin.
His runner-up finish burnishes Von Berg’s stellar 2018, following wins at Wildflower and the Ironman 70.3 European Championship at Elsinore.
WOMEN
Rachel McBride led the women’s swim wave with a 24:54 split that gave her a 4 seconds lead on Kessler and 5 seconds on Jennifer Spieldenner of the U.S.
After 33km of the bike leg, Kessler carved out a 31 seconds lead on McBride, 3:13 on Spieldenner and 5:07 on Jodie Robertson of the U.S.
Kessler led at 66km but a McBride refused to cave and trailed by only 4 seconds. Robertson advanced to 3rd, 4:57 back of the lead pair. With a late surge, McBride arrived at T2 with a 10 seconds lead on Kessler, while Robertson fell more than 5 minutes arrears.
After 10.5km of the run, Kessler gradually increased her lead to 1:51 on McBride and 7:15 on Robertson.
After a women’s 2nd-best 1:24:39 half marathon, Kessler finished in 4:14:35 with a 2:44 margin of victory on McBride (1:28:09 run) and 6:43 on 3rd place finisher Robertson (women’s-fastest 1:24:10 run split).
After regaining fitness following a recent childbirth, Kessler has hit her stride again with a runner-up finish at Chattanooga 70.3 and a win at Raleigh 70.3 prior to today’s victory at Mt. Tremblant.
Ironman 70.3 Mont Tremblant
Mont Tremblant, Canada
June 24, 2018
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Lionel Sanders (CAN) 3:40:58 S 24:15 T1 2:02 B 2:02:20 T2 N/A R 1:11:24
2. Rodolphe Von Berg (USA) 3:44:02 S 23:10 T1 2:05 B 2:05:15 T2 N/A R 1:12:47
3. Brent McMahon (CAN) 3:45:53 S 23:08 T1 2:04 B 2:05:16 T2 N/A R 1:14:43
4. Jackson Laundry (CAN) 3:48:40 S 23:19 T1 2:07 B 2:04:59 T2 00:50 R 1:17:26
5. Matt Russell (USA) 3:58:22 S 26:50 T1 2:28 B 2:08:1 T2 1:11 R 1:15:49
Women
1. Meredith Kessler (USA) 4:14:35 S 24:57 T1 2:36 B 2:20:50 T2 1:34 R 1:24:39
2. Rachel McBride (CAN) 4:17:19 S 24:54 T1 2:30 B 2:20:50 T2 00:58 R 1:28:09
3. Jodie Robertson (USA) 4:21:18 S 29:16 T1 3:08 B 2:23:36 T2 1:09 R 1:24:10
4. Jennifer Spieldenner (USA) 4:28:15 S 24:59 T1 2:23 B 2:30:08 T2 1:02 R 1:29:46
5. Amber Ferreira (USA) 4:28:15 S 27:30 T1 2:54 B 2:31:25 T2 1:07 R 1:29:46
