Caroline Steffen and Tim Reed win Ironman 70.3 Philippines

Caroline Steffen won bravely as she crossed the line bleeding from a bike crash, and Tim Reed won by two ticks of the clock over a fellow Tim at Ironman 70.3 Philippines.

Steffen, the swift Swiss, combined a women’s-fastest 24:01 swim, women's 2nd-best 2:25:44 bike split and women’s 2nd-best 1:30:25 half marathon to finish in 4:23:54, with a 5:13 margin of victory over Beth Gerdes of the U.S. and 5:42 over 3rd-place finisher Dimity-Lee Duke of Australia.

The men’s race began with an all-out battle on the swim led by Clayton Fettell of Australia in 21:47, followed closely by fellow Aussie Sam Betten (21:51), then a minute’s gap before a large pack of fish-fast fellows including Canadian Brent McMahon (22:51), 2012 Aussie Kona champ Peter Jacobs (22:56), Aussie Tim Reed and Kiwi Matt Franklin (22:57), Aussies Tim Van Berkel and Mitch Robins (22:58), Aussies Luke McKenzie (23:00 and Craig Alexander (23:01).

By the finish of the bike leg, McMahon’s 2:03:17 split led Tim Van Berkel’s 2:03:15 into T2 by one second and Reed’s 2:03:21 by 6 seconds. McKenzie was next at 2:57 arrears, with Betten, Robins and Alexander just under 5 minutes down.

On the wings of his race-best 1:16:35 run, Reed edged out Van Berkel and his next-best 1:16:42 half marathon by 2 seconds at the line. McMahon took 3rd with a 1:21:01 run that brought him to the line 4:18 back of Van Berkel.

Yvonne Van Vlerken overcame a 4:02 deficit to swim leader Sarissa De Vries with a women’s-best 5:16:10 bike split and a women’s 2nd-best 3:21:17 run to finish in 9:39:24, with a 19:20 margin on runner-up De Vries and 25:14 over 3rd-place finisher Carla van Rooijen.

Ironman Maastricht-Limburg
Maastricht, Netherlands
August 2, 2015
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Bas Diederen (NED) 8:27:18
2. Mark Oude Bennink (NED) 8:35:15
3. Alberto Casadei (ITA) 8:38:04
4. Tim Brydenbach (BEL) 8:40:38
5. Matic Modic (SVN) 8:44:11

Women

1. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 9:39:24
2. Sarissa De Vries (NED) 9:58:44
3. Carla van Rooijen (NED) 10:04:34
4. Carolin Lehrieder (GER) 10:19:57
5. Steffi Hansen (GER) 10:28:05

Stuart Marais and Annah Watkinson win Ironman 70.3 Durban

South Africans Stuart Marais and Annah Watkinson won Ironman 70.3 Durban.

After a 3rd-best 26:06 swim split left him with a 1:02 deficit, Marais turned on the jets with a race-best 2:10:18 bike split - 7:08 better than his quickest challenger - and polished it off with a race-best 1:18:38 run that brought him to the finish in 4:00:07. This gave Marais a 10:13 margin of victory over runner-up and countryman Michael Davidson and 14:17 over 3rd-place finisher Rudolf Naude of South Africa.

Watkinson began with a women’s 3rd-best swim that left her with a 1:31 deficit, added a 2nd-best 2:25:47 bike split and finished with a women’s-best 1:25:26 run that brought her to the finish in 4:26:01, giving her a 24 seconds edge over runner-up and fellow South African Kirsten Schut and 2:40 over 3rd-place woman Parys Edwards of Great Britain.

Ironman 70.3 Durban
Durban, South Africa
August 2, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Stuart Marais (RSA) 4:00:07
2. Michael Davidson (RSA) 4:10:20
3. Rudolf Naude (RSA) 4:14:24
4. Freddy Lampret (RSA) 4:14:41
5. Mark Pellew (RSA) 4:14:59

Women

1. Annah Watkinson (RSA) 4:26:01
2. Kirsten Schut (RSA) 4:26:25
3. Parys Edwards (GBR) 4:28:41
4. Andrea Steyn (RSA) 4:32:40
5. Lucie Zelenkova (CZE) 4:38:00

Clay Emge and Francesca Tibaldi prevail at Ironman Boulder

While the second edition of Ironman Boulder was a no-pro affair, two amateurs produced highly respectable winning times.