In his first race since breaking the Ironman brand record at Brazil, Tim Don outrode 2-time Mexican Triathlon Olympian Crisanto Grajales to win the elite men’s category by an 8:50 margin at Challenge San Gil Queretaro.

In the women’s race, Mexican Triathlon Olympian Cecilia Gabriela Perez Flores passed Laurel Wassner of the U.S. on the last half of the run to win the half distance race by a 2:10 margin.

Men

After leading the men’s non-wetsuit swim in 22:30, the trio of 2006 ITU World Champion and 2014 Ironman 70.3 World Championship bronze medalist Tim Don, current WTS 9th-ranked Crisanto Grajales of Mexico, and 2016 XTERRA World Champion and recent Ironman 70.3 winner Mauricio Mendez of Mexico exited the water 1:30 ahead of emerging ITU star Raul Tejada of Guatemala.

As he did in Florianopolis, Don charged ahead on the bike to a race-best 2:07:35 split and carved out a 10 minutes lead after the bike leg. Mendez arrived second at T2, but was soon passed by Grajales on the run. Unfortunately, Mendez developed leg cramps and withdrew from the race on the second loop.

Don never looked back as he ran a 3rd-fastest 1:18:57 run split to a new course record – the first man to break four hours on a course with a dauntingly difficult bike leg. Don crossed the line in 3:54:10 with an 8:50 margin of victory over Grajales (1:16:39 run) and 12:04 over 3rd-place finisher Tejada (1:18:56 run).

Don was not sure how his body would handle the tough hills of San Gil just five weeks after his mighty effort at Brazil. But, after his impulse entry two weeks before, Don was pleased with his performance: "I was not 100 percent sure how my body would handle the race at high altitude 1900m-2460m. The swim went well and once on the bike I put my head down and focused on the numbers my coaches and I had worked out. All the villages you passed were out cheering as well, and the tough climb was hard but it was nice to finish the last 20km or so downhill to shake the legs out."

Women

Perez, who won this race in 2014 and finished 2nd in 2015, led the swim with a 25:25 split that gave her a 1 second lead on Wassner. But Perez then trailed Wassner by 1:30 after the bike leg in which Wassner rode a women's-best 2:37:11 split which was 1:17 faster than Perez. Wassner held the lead through the three-quarters of the run, but Perez surged and Wassner could not answer in the final kilometers of the run. Perez ran a women's 2nd-best 1:30:16 half marathon, 2:50 faster than Wassner, which brought her to the finish in 4:40:29 with a 2:10 margin of victory over Wassner and 7:53 over 3rd-place finisher Mackenzie Madison of the U.S.

Challenge San Gil Queretaro
San Gil, Mexico
July 2, 2017
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Tim Don (GBR) 3:54:10
2. Crisanto Grajales (MEX) 4:03:00
3. Raul Tejada (GUA) 4:06:14
4. Alistair Eeckman (USA) 4:13:46
5. Arturo Garza (MEX) 4:22:52

Women

1. Cecilia Perez (MEX) 4:40:29
2. Laurel Wassner (USA) 4:42:39
3. Madison Mackenzie (USA) 4:48:22
4. Adrian Carreño (MEX) 4:50:50
5. Fabiola Corona (MEX) 4:59:28