Sarah Crowley of Australia and Jason West of the U.S. took pro honors at Ironman 70.3 Santa Cruz.
Women
Crowley combined a women’s 3rd-best 25:56 swim around the famed Santa Cruz Boardwalk pier that left her 2:32 behind swim leader Lauren Brandon, and women’s-fastest 2:16:28 bike split that gave her a 2:02 lead at T2 on Skye Moench of the U.S., 3:20 on Heather Jackson and 3:47 on Jeanni Seymour of South Africa.
While Moench took 51 seconds off Crowley’s lead with a women’s-best 1:21:25 half marathon, the Australian finished in 4:09:04 with a 1:19 margin of victory over Moench and 4:59 over 3rd place finisher Heather Jackson of the U.S. (1:24:00 run split.)
Men
Matt Franklin of New Zealand led the swim with a 23:17 split that gave him a 3 seconds lead on West, 5 seconds on Marty Andrie of the U.S., 6 seconds on Bocherer and Nicholas Dougall of South Africa and 7 seconds on Justin Metzler of the U.S.
After a race-best 2:01:00 bike split, superb cyclist Andrew Talansky of the U.S. led the field into T2 by 28 seconds over Chris Leiferman of the U.S., 29 seconds over Bocherer, who posted the second-best bike slit of 2:01:47, 4:32 over Metzler, 4:36 over West and 4:39 over Franklin.
On the run, West sliced through the field with a race-best 1:13:47 half marathon that brought him to the line in 3:48:23 with a 2:40 margin of victory over Böcherer (1:20:29 run split) and 2:46 over 3rd place Metzler (1:16:33 run split). Mario De Elias of Argentina finished with a 1:17”13 run split to take 4th, 6:20 behind the winner. Seam Harrington of the U.S. closed with a second-best 1:14:47 run to finish 5th, 7:39 behind the winner.
Leiferman did not finish due to a disqualification.
Ironman 70.3 Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California
September 8, 2019
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Women
1. Sarah Crowley (AUS) 4:09:04 S 25:51 T1 3:14 B 2:16:28 T2 1:20 R 1:22:16
2. Skye Moench (USA) 4:10:23 S 26:47 T1 3:35 B 2:17:11 T2 1:28 R 1:21:25
3. Heather Jackson (USA) 4:14:03 S 27:06 T1 3:34 B 2:18:11 T2 1:14 R 1:24:00
4. Jeanni Seymour (RSA) 4:15:29 S 24:59 T1 3:217 B 2:20:52 T2 1:18 R 1:24:56
5. Angela Naeth (CAN) 4:36:50 S 29:19 T1 4:20 B 2:25:57 T2 2:01 R 1:35:15
Men
1. Jason West (USA) 3:48:23 S 23:14 T1 3:06 B 2:07:03 T2 1:14 R 1:13:47
2. Andi Böcherer (GER) 3:51:03 S 23:18 T1 4:10 B 2:01:47 T2 1:20 R 1:20:29
3. Justin Metzler (USA) 3:51:09 S 23:18 T1 3:04 B 2:06:57 T2 1:20 R 1:16:33
4. Mario de Elias (ARG) 3:54:43 S 24:43 T1 3:12 B 2:08:09 T2 1:28 R 1:17:13
5. Sean Harrington (USA) 3:56:02 S 24:01 T1 3:14 B 2:12:56 T2 1:06 R 1:14:47
