Canadian Olympian Matt Sharpe, four months after retiring from ITU Olympic distance competition, won his first 70.3 race by 51 seconds over Justin Metzler of the U.S. with a swift swim and run combination. Metzler’s effort was courageous as he fought hard on a mid-90s day just two weeks after a 4th place finish at Ironman Lake Placid.
Rach McBride blasted away from the women’s field with a by-far women’s-best 2:11:36 bike split which gave them a 3:19 margin over Lesley Smith of the U.S. McBride engaged in a hard fought duel with highly ranked Holly Lawrence throughout the swim and bike until the Brit succumbed to the heat of the day and dropped out on the run.
Men
The race was delayed half an hour in order to let all traffic delayed entries make the start, thus adding to already steamy temperatures – and slower run times.
Using his ITU swim chops, Sharpe zoomed away from the field on the 1.2-mile non-wetsuit swim in the Boulder Reservoir. His 25:27 swim split gave him a 23 seconds lead on Marty Andrie, 37 seconds om Fraser Walsh, and 39 seconds on Metzler, with Ben Hoffman trailing by 1:08 and Andre Lopez of Brazil 1:23 arrears.
After 10 miles into the bike leg, the leaders settled into a pack of four which included Sharpe Andrie, Metzler and Hoffman. The leaders swapped the lead until Tripp Hipple of the U.S. charged hard from 3 minutes down after the swim to join the lead pack. Sadly, Hipple was immediately docked with a 5-¬minute penalty for drafting.
The next surge came from Kennett Peterson who zoomed past the lead pack on his way to a race-best 1:59:38 bike split, the only man to post a sub 2-hour split. After that kamikaze effort, Peterson held a 54 seconds lead on Metzler, 57 seconds on Hoffman, 1:11 on Andrie, and 1:46 on Sharpe.
Once again utilizing his ITU footspeed, Sharpe took the lead halfway through the half marathon on his way to a race-best 1:17:11 split. Sharpe crossed the line in 3:49:56 with a 51 seconds margin on Metzler (1:18:44 run) and 1:04 on third-place Ben Hoffman (1:18:54 run).
Women
As usual, swim specialist Lauren Brandon led the swim with a 25:52 split that was 54 seconds faster than Holly Lawrence and just 25 seconds off the pace of the fastest men’s swim split by Sharpe.
After Brandon lost time with misplaced helmet and visor in transition, Brandon and Lawrence rode together out of transition. With Lawrence riding hard, she finally shook off Brandon, but McBride caught the leading duo and surged into the lead just before T2.
Not long after T2, Lawrence regained the lead. But the heat got to her and she was forced to walk 2 miles into the run. Halfway through the run, Lawrence dropped out of the race.
McBride’s sixth-best 1:29:15 run was good enough to finish in 4:12:53 with a 3:19 lead on Lesley Smith of the U.S. (4:16:13 run) and 6:37 on third-place finisher Hannah Wells of New Zealand (1:30:47 run).
IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder
Boulder, Colorado
August 6, 2022
S 1.9km / B 90km / R 21.1km
Men's Results
1. Matthew Sharpe (CAN) S 25:27 T1 1:09 B 2:05:02 T2 1:09 R 1:17:11 TOT 3:49:56
2. Justin Metzler (USA) S 26:34 T1 1:08 B 2:03:04 T2 1:08 R 1:18:44 TOT 3:50:48
3. Ben Hoffman (USA) S 26:36 T1 1:25 B 2:02:48 T2 1:19 R 1:18:54 TOT 3:51:01
4. Marty Andrie (USA) S 25:29 T1 1:06 B 2:04:28 T2 1:30 R 1:30 R 1:19:09 TOT 3:51:41
5. Adam Feigh (USA) S 27:45 T1 1:19 B 2:02:41 T2 1:25 R 1:19:26 TOT 3:52:34
6. Kennett Peterson (USA) S 28:40 T1 1:34 B 1:59:38 T2 1:20 R 1:22:47 TOT 3:53:56
7. Andre Lopes (BRA) S 26:50 T1 1:08 B 2:05:15 T2 1:21 R 1:20:01 TOT 3:54:32
8. Trevor Foley (USA) S 29:41 T1 1:56 B 2:04:32 T2 1:20 R 1:18:44 TOT 3:50:48
9. Ernest Mantell (USA) S 27:49 T1 1:16 B 2:05:35 T2 1:34 R 1:22:04 TOT 3:58:16
10. Jack Moody (NZL) S 27:47 T1 1:15 B 2:07:57 T2 1:25 R 1:20:21 TOT 3:58:43
Women's Results
1. Rach McBride (USA) S 29:11 T1 1:33 B 2:11:36 1:21 R 1:29:15 TOT 4:12:53
2. Lesley Smith (USA) S 29:15 T1 1:30 B 2:18:02 T2 1:44 R 1:25:45 TOT 4:16:13
3. Hannah Wells (NZL) S 29:16 T1 1:21 B 2:16:44 T2 1:25 R 1:30:47 TOT 4:19:30
4. Mollie Hebda (USA) S 29:13 T1 1:23 B 2:18:05 T2 1:32 R 1:33:29 TOT 4:23:40
5. Danielle Lewis (USA) S 33:56 T1 1:23 B 2:14:28 T2 1:22 R 1:33:26 TOT 4:24:34
6. Nicole Falcaro (USA) S 34:00 T1 1:53 B 2:19:32 T2 1:16 R 1:28:47 TOT 4:25:25
7. Tyler Hudacek (USA) S 32:25 T1 1:31 B 2:24:22 T2 1:28 R 1:26:33 TOT 4:26:18Alyci
8. Alycia Hill (USA) S 31:18 T1 1:26 B 2:25:04 T2 2:17 R 1:26:38 TOT 4:26:40
9. Lauren Brandon (USA) S 25:52 T1 1:37 B 2:17:46 T2 1:36 R 1:40:45 TOT 4:27:34
10. Brianna Troksa (USA) S 36:30 T1 2:33 B 2:21:59 T2 1:50 R 1:27:17 TOT 4:30:07
