An American and a German take Miami, a Mexican and a Canadian prevail in Los Cabos, Belgians top the podium in Turkey, and home country heroes sweep Australia.

Sarah Haskins and Michael Raelert take Miami 70.3

Sarah Haskins’ women’s-best swim and bike splits gave her a 5:35 margin over Leanda Cave, and Michael Raelert overcame Andrew Starykowicz’s sizzling-fast bike leg with a 2nd-best run, to win the pro titles at Ironman 70.3 Miami.

Men

Cam Dye led the swim with a 21:22 split, one second in front of Raelert, 6 seconds on Marko Albert, 8 seconds on Andrew Yoder, 10 seconds on Paul Matthews and 48 seconds on Yunior Rosete and the American überbiker Andrew Starykowicz.

Raelert did well to hold off Starykowicz for half the bike leg, where upon the actual Starky blasted off to an incredible 1:56:11 split that gave him a 5:03 lead on Raelert (2nd-best 2:01:56 bike split), 6:38 on a pretty-darn-good-himself cyclist Yoder (2:03:04 split) and 11 and half minutes on seven men including Santiago Ascenco of Brazil, Allan Steen Olesen of Denmark, Taylor Reid of Canada, veteran Oscar Galindez of Argentina and Paul Matthews of Australia.
And Yoder hung it up after the bike.

Then the chase was on as Raelert sliced Starykowicz’s lead to 4:27 after 1.44 miles, then 1:34 at 3.3 miles. Raelert finished the job before Mile 6, then sailed to the finish with a 3rd-best 1:17:46 run split which brought him to the finish in 3:43:23 with a 2:29 margin on Starykowicz (1:25:18 run) and 5:24 on 3rd-place finisher Santiago Ascenco of Brazil., who closed with a race-best 1:16:46 run.

The victory gave 2-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion (2009 and 2010) Raelert a nice addition to a strong 2015 season that includes a win at Ruegen 70.3, a 2nd at Challenge Heilbronn, 3rd at Challenge Dubai and 5th at the Ironman 70.3 World championship.

Women

Haskins led the swim with a 22:39 split that gave her a 1 second advantage over Jennifer Spieldenner of the U.S., 1:22 on Cave, 1:23 over Carla Moreno of Brazil, 2:16 over Kristen Marchant of Canada, and 2:22 over Michaela Herlbauer of Austria.

Haskins padded her lead with a women's-best 2:18:50 bike split which gave her a 2:01 lead on Spieldenner (next-best 2:20:44 bike split), 4:43 on Marchant, 4:45 on Cave, and 10 and a half minutes on Herlbauer and 11 minutes on Lesley Smith, both dangerous runners.

Haskins sailed to the victory with a 3rd-best 1:28:43 run that brought her to the finish in 4:12:57 with a 5:35 advantage over runner-up Leanda Cave (1:29:42 run) and 6:44 on Herlbauer, who made up 3:12 with a women's 2nd-best 1:25:31 run. Smith closed with the women's-fastest 24:25 run split to take 4th, 21 seconds behind Herlbauer and 1:32 ahead of 5th-place finisher Marchant. After a strong swim and bike, Spieldenner faded to 6th with a 1:35:49 run.

The win gave Haskins her 3rd 70.3 victory in her first season of middle distance racing, after victories at Ironman 70.3 Puerto Rico and Eagleman 70.3.


Ironman 70.3 Miami
Miami Beach, Florida
October 25, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Michael Raelert (GER) 3:43:23
2. Andrew Starykowicz (USA) 3:45:52
3. Santiago Ascenco (BRA) 3:48:47
4. Raul Tejada (GTM) 3:49:29
5. Taylor Reid (CAN) 3:50:40

Women

1. Sarah Haskins (USA) 4:12:57
2. Leanda Cave (GBR) 4:18:32
3. Michaels Herlbauer (AUT) 4:19:41
4. Lesley Smith (USA) 4:20:02
5. Kristen Marchant (CAN) 4:21:34

Francisco Serrano and Magali Tisseyre win Ironman 70.3 Los Cabos

Francisco Serrano of Mexico outran James Hadley of Great Britain for the men’s win and Magali Tisseyre of Canada combined a 2nd-best swim and women’s-fastest bike and run splits for a 7:17 margin of victory for the women's title at Ironman 70.3 Los Cabos.

Men

Davide Giardini of Italy led the swim in 25:43, which gave him a 3 seconds lead on Brian Fleischmann of the U.S., 7 seconds on James Hadley of the UK, 35 seconds on Leon Griffin of Australia, 40 seconds on Serrano, 2:09 on Matt Lieto of the U.S., and 2:17 on Cody Beals of Canada.

After a 4th-best 2:13:43 bike split, Giardini held on to a 1:32 lead on Matt Lieto of the U.S. (race-best 2:12:38 bike split), 1:39 on Serrano (2:14:47 bike split), 1:46 on Beals (2nd-fastest 2:13:04 split), 1:47 on Hadley (2:15:18 bike split), and 1:50 on Chris Leiferman of the U.S. (2:13:10 bike split).

By 4.4km into the run, Serrano took a 28 seconds lead on Hadley, 53 seconds on Leiferman, 56 seconds on Giardini, and 1:13 on Beals. At 12k, Serrano led by 1 minute on Hadley, 2:38 on Leiferman, 3:33 on Beals, and 4:28 on Giardini.

After a race-best 1:19:07 run, Serrano hit the tape in 4:02:46 with a 59 seconds margin of victory over Hadley (1:19:57 run) and 3:43 on 3rd-place finisher Beals (1:22:47 run).

Women

Brianna Baird led the swim, followed 1 second later by fellow U.S. competitor Amanda Stevens with Tisseyre, Ricarda Lisk of Germany, Carrie Lester of Australia, and Melanie McQuaid of Canada following in evenly spaced gaps from 49 to 74 seconds later.

Whereupon Mighty Magali took command and unleashed a women's-best 2:26:30 bike split which gave her a T2 lead of 3:31 on Lester, 7:21 on McQuaid, 10:49 on Ewa Komander of Poland, and 10:55 on Carly Johann of the U.S.

After a women's-best 1:26:29 run, Tisseyre finished in 4:28:24 with a 7:17 margin of victory over Lester, 12:06 on 3rd-place finisher Ricarda Lisk of Germany (1:27:27 run), and 18:12 on 4th-place finisher McQuaid.

Ironman 70.3 Los Cabos
Los Cabos, Mexico
October 25, 2014
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Francisco Serrano (MEX) 4:02:46
2. James Hadley (GBR) 4:03:45
3. Cody Beals (CAN) 4:06:29
4. Chris Leiferman (USA) 4:08:15
5. Matt Lieto (USA) 4:10:20

Women

1. Magali Tisseyre (CAN) 4:24:28
2. Carrie Lester (AUS) 4:31:45
3. Ricarda Lisk (GER) 4:36:34
4. Melanie McQuaid (CAN) 4:42:40
5. Carly Johann (USA) 4:43:39

Belgians Frederik Van Lierde and Alexandra Tondeur win Ironman 70.3 Turkey

Frederik Van Lierde of Belgium combined a 2nd-best swim, a dominating bike split and a 6th-fastest run to win the men’s title, and fellow Belgian Alexandra Tondeur topped Gurutze Frades of Spain by a 2:01 margin to win the women’s crown, at Ironman 70.3 Turkey.

Men

Harry Wiltshire of the UK led the swim in 20:54, gaining a temporary 10 seconds lead on Van Lierde and, of the potential contenders, 13 seconds on Alberto Casadei of Italy, and 1 minute on Germans Patrick Lange and Paul Schuster and Bertrand Billard of France.

After 56km of the bike leg, Van Lierde opened a 2:08 lead on Marcus Herbst of Germany, 2:51 on Schuster, 2:53 on Lange, and just over 3:45 on Wiltshire, Casadei and Billard. After a brilliant 2:11:50 bike split, Van Lierde opened a 4:42 gap on Schuster, 6:23 on Herbst, and 7:14 on Wiltshire.

With such a gap, Van Lierde went into cruise control and finished with a 7th-best 1:17:27 run split, which brought him to the finish in 3:53:48 with a 4:05 margin of victory over Schuster (1:16:42 run) and 6:02 on 3rd-place finisher Lange, who closed fast with a race-best 1:13:11 half marathon.

Women

Turkey’s home country favorite Melda Fatma Idrisoglu led the swim in 22:58 with a 33 seconds margin over Sarah Lewis and Linda Evans of Great Britain, while Tondeur lurked just over 2 minutes back.

While Evans led the field into T2, she was fated to drop out of contention on the run. Caroline Livesey was next to T2 with a women's 2nd-best 2:33:00 split, which gave her a 31 seconds lead on Tondeur (2:33:42 bike split) and 55 seconds on Gurutze Frades of Spain.

Tondeur sealed the deal with a women's-best 1:22:53 run which brought her to the line in 4:26:39, with a 2:02 margin of victory over Frades (1:23:54 run) and 7:55 on 3rd-place finisher Livesey (1:30:51 run.)

In her second season as a pro, Tondeur moved up the podium with a 3rd at Mallorca 70.3, 2nd at Pays d’Aix 70.3, and a sweet victory at Turkey 70.3.

Ironman 70.3 Turkey
Belek, Turkey
October 25, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi

Results

Men

1. Frederik Van Lierde (BEL) 3:53:48
2. Paul Schuster (GER) 3:57:53
3. Patrick Lange (GER) 3:59:50
4. Milosz Sowinski (POL) 4:01:27
5. Christian Hoerper (GER) 4:02:33

Women

1. Alexandra Tondeur (BEL) 4:26:39
2. Gurutze Frades (ESP) 4:28:41
3. Caroline Livesey (GBR) 4:34:34
4. Elisabeth Gruber (AUT) 4:35:02
5. Anna Halasz (HUN) 4:36:24

Aaron Royle and Emma Moffatt win Nepean Triathlon

Aaron Royle’s race-best swim trumped fellow Aussie Jacob Birtwhistle’s race-best run, and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist and two-time ITU World Champion Emma Moffatt outran fellow Australian Ashleigh Gentle, to win the 35th edition of the short-distance Nepean Triathlon.

Men

Royle opened with a race-best 11:55 split for the 1000 meter swim, which gave him a 36 seconds lead on Ryan Fisher, 38 seconds on Ben Shaw, and 42 seconds on Matt Baker.

Royle increased his lead with a race-best 42:07 split for the 30-kilometer bike leg, which gave him a 22 seconds lead on Fisher, 1:20 on Shaw, 1:23 on Matthew Pellow, and 1:25 on Birtwhistle.

Birtwhistle made the big move with a tied for race-best 31:14 10k run split, which cut 1:10 from Royle’s lead but left him in 2nd-place, 12 seconds short of Royle and the win. Fisher posted a 3rd-best 31:32 run to finish 3rd, 23 seconds back of the winner. Brendan Sexton made up for a 13:14 swim and 43:58 bike split with a tied-for race-best 31:14 run to finish 5th, 38 seconds back of 4th place finisher Matt Baker.

Women

Natalie Coevorden led the women’s pro swim wave in 13:20, 2 seconds ahead of Moffatt, 4 seconds ahead of Charlotte McShane, 24 seconds ahead of Gentle, 27 seconds ahead of Melinda Vernon, 28 seconds ahead of Ellie Salthouse, and 32 seconds ahead of Emma Pallant.

Gentle posted the women's-best 45:33 bike split which gave her a 1 second lead on Coevorden (45:55 bike split), 2 seconds on Moffatt (45:52 bike split), 2:22 on McShane, and just over 3 minutes on Ellie Salthouse and Pallant.

Moffatt’s 2nd-fastest 34:15 10k run brought her to the line in 1:35:30 with a 1:20 margin of victory over Gentle and 1:52 on 3rd place finisher Coevorden. Pallant made up ground with a race-best 34:13 run to finish 4th, 3:16 back of the winner.

2015 Nepean Triathlon
Penrith, Australia
October 25, 2015
S 1k / B 30k / R 10k

Results

Men

1. Aaron Royle (AUS) 1:28:22
2. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 1:28:34
3. Ryan Fisher (AUS) 1:28:45
4. Matt Baker (AUS) 1:29:24
5. Brendan Sexton (AUS) 1:30:02

Women

1. Emma Moffatt (AUS) 1:35:30
2. Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) 1:36:50
3. Natalie Van Coevorden (AUS) 1:37:22
4. Emma Pallant (GBR) 1:38:46
6. Melinda Vernon (AUS) 1:39:59