Some Fast Age Groupers at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside
I just got back from Oceanside and, let me tell you, Kristian Blummenfelt and Taylor Knibb got all the news headlines at Saturday’s IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside – and rightfully so. Blummenfelt’s 3:40:07 and Knibb’s 4:01:38 were both course records. But, buried in the full results, is a story that rarely gets told, and is a story that rarely is as evident as it was at this weekend’s event.
The bigger conversation that I wanted to talk about was the success of the age group race. According to the results, 3,026 age group athletes toed the line this last Saturday morning. (This is only male and female solo racers in those divisions.) With around an 84% finishing rate, that meant 2,525 finished. While there were 55 Countries represented, nearly 80% of the field was American, and I’m going to guess that a solid chuck of those are from the triathlon hub around the Oceanside area. It was awesome to see such large numbers of excited age groupers and, according to IRONMAN, 1,400 of those were first timers.
So let’s talk about the 126 age groupers that crossed the line ahead of at least one professional athlete.
The Women: Age Groupers
Julia Day (F30-34, USA), the day’s fastest age-group woman, finished in 4:36:49 — ahead of 10 female pros. That’s not a typo. Ten.
The pros she beat included Maia Watson (+0:31), Kelly Barton (+0:48), Ali Brauer (+2:04), Joanna Ryter (+5:48) and six others. That Day’s time would have placed her in the top 50% of the women’s pro field at many IRONMAN 70.3 events around the world.
Some other noticeable athletes were Christina Case, a 45-49 age grouper from the U.S., who finished in 4:50:36 and beat six female pros, including Anna Guzman, who she beat by 24 seconds. And then there’s Julia Weisbecker, competing in the 60-64 category, who crossed in 5:14:21 and beat two pros. Sixty-plus and faster than two women with pro licenses. That’s impressive. Who are all these rock star women?
70 Female Age Groupers Who Beat Female Pros
The women’s pro field finishing times ranged from (4:01:38) to (5:26:56).
| # | Athlete | AG | Time | Pros Beaten |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Julia Day | F30-34 | 4:36:49 | 10 |
| 2 | Nicole Heininger | F35-39 | 4:43:03 | 6 |
| 3 | McKenna Morello | F25-29 | 4:43:27 | 6 |
| 4 | Lexi Wright | F25-29 | 4:45:08 | 6 |
| 5 | Anna Ikelheimer | F18-24 | 4:46:08 | 6 |
| 6 | Leah Winckler | F30-34 | 4:48:54 | 6 |
| 7 | Amelia Zwiener | F30-34 | 4:48:54 | 6 |
| 8 | Christina Case | F45-49 | 4:50:36 | 6 |
| 9 | Rennie Tankersley | F30-34 | 4:51:21 | 5 |
| 10 | Kristen Radtke | F35-39 | 4:52:33 | 5 |
| 11 | Abigail Archer | F25-29 | 4:52:47 | 5 |
| 12 | Molly Lesser | F35-39 | 4:53:40 | 5 |
| 13 | Jordan Stiewig | F25-29 | 4:53:53 | 5 |
| 14 | Alexandra Sborov | F30-34 | 4:56:09 | 5 |
| 15 | Ava Smith | F18-24 | 4:57:55 | 5 |
| 16 | Kaitlin Carew | F25-29 | 4:57:56 | 5 |
| 17 | Laura McDonald | F40-44 | 4:59:04 | 5 |
| 18 | Ashley Anderson | F35-39 | 5:00:31 | 4 |
| 19 | Meghan Grant | F40-44 | 5:00:57 | 4 |
| 20 | Nicole Mohajer | F35-39 | 5:02:01 | 4 |
| 21 | Mariana Martinez Suarez | F35-39 | 5:04:26 | 4 |
| 22 | Claire Koeppel | F25-29 | 5:04:39 | 3 |
| 23 | Nina Broccard | F18-24 | 5:05:49 | 3 |
| 24 | Jamie Schnuck | F30-34 | 5:06:16 | 3 |
| 25 | Grace Banas | F30-34 | 5:06:21 | 3 |
| 26 | Carly Hyland | F30-34 | 5:06:34 | 2 |
| 27 | Gillian Micoli | F40-44 | 5:07:10 | 2 |
| 28 | Christina Sebastian | F25-29 | 5:07:21 | 2 |
| 29 | Julia Ferreira | F30-34 | 5:07:54 | 2 |
| 30 | Lara Erlank | F35-39 | 5:08:03 | 2 |
| 31 | Becky McQuain | F40-44 | 5:08:34 | 2 |
| 32 | Justine Quach | F35-39 | 5:08:56 | 2 |
| 33 | Wendy Fawley | F50-54 | 5:09:07 | 2 |
| 34 | Sophie Collin | F30-34 | 5:09:14 | 2 |
| 35 | Camille Buchanan | F18-24 | 5:09:53 | 2 |
| 36 | Kayla Marmolejo | F35-39 | 5:10:03 | 2 |
| 37 | Monica Folts | F40-44 | 5:11:25 | 2 |
| 38 | Ana Gallardo Avila | F35-39 | 5:11:30 | 2 |
| 39 | Ana Maynez | F18-24 | 5:12:11 | 2 |
| 40 | Ellee Becker | F25-29 | 5:12:53 | 2 |
| 41 | Kelsie Yamano | F18-24 | 5:13:36 | 2 |
| 42 | Kaley Suero | F30-34 | 5:13:50 | 2 |
| 43 | Meagan Perlstein | F45-49 | 5:13:50 | 2 |
| 44 | Carolyn Carter | F30-34 | 5:14:00 | 2 |
| 45 | Julia Weisbecker | F60-64 | 5:14:21 | 2 |
| 46 | Kristen Lamb | F50-54 | 5:14:36 | 2 |
| 47 | Sarah Mensinger | F30-34 | 5:14:47 | 2 |
| 48 | Allison Johnston | F30-34 | 5:14:55 | 2 |
| 49 | Johanna Hudson | F45-49 | 5:16:13 | 2 |
| 50 | Mylene Ghestin | F35-39 | 5:17:08 | 2 |
| 51 | Maggie Feikes | F30-34 | 5:17:40 | 2 |
| 52 | Karine Levert-Amyot | F30-34 | 5:17:47 | 2 |
| 53 | Lauren Sayles | F25-29 | 5:17:55 | 2 |
| 54 | Sophia Goland | F25-29 | 5:18:23 | 2 |
| 55 | Christine Houser | F45-49 | 5:18:35 | 2 |
| 56 | Kelly Hellman | F25-29 | 5:19:24 | 2 |
| 57 | Ulyana Zarubina | F35-39 | 5:19:25 | 2 |
| 58 | Liz Cullen | F45-49 | 5:20:00 | 2 |
| 59 | Marcella Rietz | F50-54 | 5:21:20 | 2 |
| 60 | Alison Lany | F30-34 | 5:22:18 | 2 |
| 61 | Emily Egart | F40-44 | 5:22:39 | 2 |
| 62 | Hannah O’Hearn | F30-34 | 5:23:05 | 1 |
| 63 | Kristen Day | F40-44 | 5:23:27 | 1 |
| 64 | Rochelle Arko | F50-54 | 5:24:11 | 1 |
| 65 | Helen Sheirbon | F50-54 | 5:25:37 | 1 |
| 66 | Tracey Hayes | F45-49 | 5:25:43 | 1 |
| 67 | Jacqueline Beaulieu | F45-49 | 5:26:07 | 1 |
| 68 | Jennifer Finotti-Sheppard | F45-49 | 5:26:17 | 1 |
| 69 | Marie Town | F40-44 | 5:26:19 | 1 |
| 70 | Ann Rusk | F35-39 | 5:26:40 | 1 |
Women’s age groupers who beat the most pros
| Athlete | AG | Time | Pros Beaten |
|---|---|---|---|
| Julia Day | F30-34 | 4:36:49 | 10 |
| Nicole Heininger | F35-39 | 4:43:03 | 6 |
| McKenna Morello | F25-29 | 4:43:27 | 6 |
| Lexi Wright | F25-29 | 4:45:08 | 6 |
| Anna Ikelheimer | F18-24 | 4:46:08 | 6 |
| Leah Winckler | F30-34 | 4:48:54 | 6 |
| Amelia Zwiener | F30-34 | 4:48:54 | 6 |
| Christina Case | F45-49 | 4:50:36 | 6 |
| Kristen Radtke | F35-39 | 4:52:34 | 5 |
| Wendy Fawley | F50-54 | 5:09:07 | 2 |
| Julia Weisbecker | F60-64 | 5:14:21 | 2 |
The Age Group Men
Reed Legg, an 18-24 age grouper from the U.S., finished in 4:01:15 — ahead of 20 male pros. Another 18-24 competitor, Sigurd Elvestad, came in at 4:03:08, and beat 16 pros.
But, as with the women’s results, the more interesting cases were the masters athletes. Tom De Bruyn, a 40-44 competitor from Belgium, clocked 4:09:36 and beat eight male professionals. Pedro Gomes (a retired pro from Portugal), also competing in the 40-44 category, was also ahead of eight pros with his 4:10:18. Jordan Nichols (M45-49) finished in 4:27:55 and still crossed ahead of three pros.
56 Male Age Groupers Who Beat Male Pros
The men’s pro field finishing times ranged from (3:40:07) to (4:32:44).
| # | Athlete | AG | Time | Pros Beaten |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reed Legg | M18-24 | 4:01:15 | 20 |
| 2 | Sigurd Elvestad | M18-24 | 4:03:08 | 16 |
| 3 | Arthur Benson | M25-29 | 4:07:06 | 11 |
| 4 | Nathan Kim | M18-24 | 4:08:16 | 9 |
| 5 | Addy Epp | M18-24 | 4:09:09 | 8 |
| 6 | Tom De Bruyn | M40-44 | 4:09:36 | 8 |
| 7 | Hippolyte Colin | M25-29 | 4:09:48 | 8 |
| 8 | Pedro Gomes* | M40-44 | 4:10:18 | 8 |
| 9 | Liam Kennedy | M18-24 | 4:10:35 | 8 |
| 10 | Christian Oakley | M25-29 | 4:12:26 | 7 |
| 11 | Sean Saxton | M25-29 | 4:12:34 | 7 |
| 12 | Justin Wegner | M35-39 | 4:12:54 | 7 |
| 13 | John Rak | M25-29 | 4:15:28 | 7 |
| 14 | Denis Santana Vera | M25-29 | 4:15:35 | 7 |
| 15 | Reilly Walsh | M25-29 | 4:15:50 | 7 |
| 16 | Guglielmo Schiavoni | M35-39 | 4:17:26 | 4 |
| 17 | Colin Chetelat | M25-29 | 4:17:50 | 4 |
| 18 | James Riegger | M30-34 | 4:18:13 | 4 |
| 19 | Cody King | M25-29 | 4:19:32 | 4 |
| 20 | Duncan Bullock | M40-44 | 4:20:10 | 4 |
| 21 | Ezra Swell | M25-29 | 4:20:23 | 4 |
| 22 | Cal Wilson | M18-24 | 4:21:01 | 4 |
| 23 | Eric Osband | M18-24 | 4:21:24 | 4 |
| 24 | Keith Eriks | M30-34 | 4:22:05 | 4 |
| 25 | Stephen Yang | M25-29 | 4:22:10 | 4 |
| 26 | Sean Obrien | M35-39 | 4:22:31 | 4 |
| 27 | Zack Reuter | M25-29 | 4:22:34 | 4 |
| 28 | Eric Frorenza-Hubbard | M30-34 | 4:22:41 | 4 |
| 29 | Carson Kidwell | M30-34 | 4:22:59 | 4 |
| 30 | Vincent Lete | M35-39 | 4:23:19 | 4 |
| 31 | Kristoffer Buus Langkilde | M25-29 | 4:23:24 | 3 |
| 32 | Lucas Lherbier | M25-29 | 4:24:42 | 3 |
| 33 | Mathew Engle | M35-39 | 4:24:53 | 3 |
| 34 | Ryan Star | M35-39 | 4:25:02 | 3 |
| 35 | Nicolas Shellhammer | M35-39 | 4:26:18 | 3 |
| 36 | Stephen Gould | M25-29 | 4:26:28 | 3 |
| 37 | Ryan Teshima | M25-29 | 4:26:40 | 3 |
| 38 | Tyler Woodward | M30-34 | 4:26:41 | 3 |
| 39 | Daniel Emmanuel Gamino Anguiano | M18-24 | 4:26:45 | 3 |
| 40 | Jordan Nichols | M45-49 | 4:27:55 | 3 |
| 41 | Marcus Lounello | M35-39 | 4:28:10 | 3 |
| 42 | Alexandre Campino | M35-39 | 4:28:11 | 3 |
| 43 | Anton Komarov | M35-39 | 4:28:57 | 2 |
| 44 | Rafael Moraes | M40-44 | 4:29:19 | 2 |
| 45 | William Reid | M30-34 | 4:29:30 | 2 |
| 46 | Brendan Murray | M25-29 | 4:29:33 | 2 |
| 47 | Justin Spence | M18-24 | 4:29:38 | 2 |
| 48 | Vinicius Pelissari | M25-29 | 4:29:39 | 2 |
| 49 | Will Kelsey | M30-34 | 4:30:52 | 2 |
| 50 | Tyler McGinnis | M35-39 | 4:31:00 | 2 |
| 51 | Peter Clements | M35-39 | 4:31:00 | 2 |
| 52 | Danny Syrkin | M18-24 | 4:31:05 | 2 |
| 53 | Nelson Alexander Doleman | M35-39 | 4:31:29 | 1 |
| 54 | Jeffrey Krotche | M18-24 | 4:31:31 | 1 |
| 55 | Carlos Rojas | M40-44 | 4:31:33 | 1 |
| 56 | Kevin Stumpf | M35-39 | 4:31:38 | 1 |
Men’s age groupers who beat the most pros
| Athlete | AG | Time | Pros Beaten |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reed Legg | M18-24 | 4:01:15 | 20 |
| Sigurd Elvestad | M18-24 | 4:03:08 | 16 |
| Arthur Benson | M25-29 | 4:07:06 | 11 |
| Nathan Kim | M18-24 | 4:08:16 | 9 |
| Addy Epp | M18-24 | 4:09:09 | 8 |
| Tom De Bruyn | M40-44 | 4:09:36 | 8 |
| Hippolyte Colin | M25-29 | 4:09:48 | 8 |
| Pedro Gomes* | M40-44 | 4:10:18 | 8 |
| Liam Kennedy | M18-24 | 4:10:35 | 8 |
| Christian Oakley | M25-29 | 4:12:26 | 7 |
* Ex-professional — Pedro Gomes is a former IRONMAN champion (IRONMAN Sweden 2013) and four-time Kona qualifier who now races as an age grouper. Also.. Please let me know if I missed anyone else that used to race in the pro ranks.
What Does This Mean?
Let’s be clear – this isn’t the first, or last, time this will occur, and some of these pros just had really off days. But, still, the numbers are big. And it does lead to some questions I have.
First, as the depth of age group triathlon continues to grow. The athletes at the front of age group fields are legitimately fast — fast enough that the line between amateur and professional is thinner than it’s ever been. So, what will that mean moving forward.
Second, the women’s pro field at Oceanside was deep at the top (Knibb, Solveig Løvseth, Jackie Hering, Audrey Merle, Sif Bendix Madsen, etc.), but had a long tail. When 70 age-group women finish ahead of at least one pro, it raises the question of what the pro card really means.
Third — and this isn’t about beating pros, it’s about racing with them, and this does sort of combine one and two a little — as age-group athletes starting behind the professional waves they are dealing with traffic, positioning and pacing dynamics that affect their races, and that’s also likely affecting the pro’s race, too. For example 422 age group males passed pro women on the bike. Clearly that will affect that race. (Also another topic for later.)
As these things aren’t going away anytime soon, it will be interesting to see how IRONMAN will address any of the things they see as challenges, and also what category these athletes will race under later. Some of them have been winning age-group titles for a long time and have ZERO desire to go pro, while others take the first chance they can to be called a “professional triathlete”. Until then, it’s pretty rad to see just how fast some of these athletes are moving to that finish line. Are you one of these athletes? Let us know what your plans are? Going pro? Or are you going to continue to collect age-group titles?
Shouldn’t you mention the different rules of pro athletes versus age-groupers? AG’ers are racing 12 meters not 20 meters…
What should happen, is pros who get beat have their pro license removed, and roll down to the AG racers for the taking
Getting a pro card for any of the age groupers is NOT an issue.. #clearly
This is not that surprising… This has been going on for years. Maybe more now than before, idk… That said you have the 12 vs 20m rule. Also, race officials are likely to ‘officiate’ the pro race more.. AG might be a draft fest at times. In addition, many pros are ‘racing to win OR make money’ and if they have an off day, might just decide to shuffle in, or call it quits. Pro’s may pay less for races, and have more chances for redemption. Whereas AG can spend boatloads getting there. Also, I would not be surprised if some AGers do a cocktail of interesting performance enhancing ‘therapies’. For example I could see people with a good amount of $$$ and ‘Low T’ going to their local clinic / Doctor for some ‘prescriptions’, etc… I remember hearing about some well-to-do folks a decade ago doing such things. Not sure how well in AG sport that is tested currenty…. And, I actually have a conflicted opinion on whether or not that should even be tested as we’d all have to spend more money to essentially test rat racers…
In addition, keep in mind that low level pros may be forced to wear / use inferior equipment whereas AGers can buy whatever works better for them….. And, then there is of course the fact that some AGers are just better, but don’t want to turn pro because it isn’t easier being a pro and perhaps other prospects in life regarding how one earns a living is just better…
Or alternatively, getting a pro card should more difficult and this all goes away.
This. It all went downhill when they added the USAT points criteria.
I posted this on the PTN thread since they cover the topic as well, but for IM the solution is just to impose a filter. Cap the number of starters and then use the non Pro Series races as a way to filter the lower tier athletes
Currently the filter is “enter before the start list fills up”, which isn’t difficult to achieve for anybody professional. New ideas like priority start list access, strikes/allowances for weak results, pool swim TTs, gateway races etc just add a hoop that only weaker pros need to jump through. A simple world ranking filter that considers all the races would be enough. Why add new rules that favour existing pros or have in-built exceptions? Let’s not make it like short-course where you need a 2min 200m pool time and 9min 3k run to get in but then you’re along for the ride with a salary and a bike. It’s hard enough on pennies and a part time job without having to prove something extra that the top pros don’t. I swear some people just want to see borderline AG/Pro folk struggle
World ranking works too. Basically anything that does a quick filter of ‘are you in the top x athletes to apply?’
Though world ranking has the disadvantage of creating another new system - we already have PTO, PTN, and the Pro Series. IM would have to create another ranking, one which presumably favours their races.
In many cases, a pro card only means that somebody filed the relevant paperwork, nothing more. Some federations have specific performance requirements for who can get a pro card. Others don’t and will give a pro card to anyone who asks, because they don’t see it as their job to play gatekeeper for private race organizers like Ironman.
Won’t happen. If Ironman wants to limit who can race as pro in their races, they will have to do that themselves. The chances that all national federations suddenly agree that they should do it for them is pretty much nil.
Or alternatively World Triathlon creates a global standard.
Kristen Radtke here! (I was the 10th overall female age grouper at Oceanside on Saturday.) True confessions: I created a SlowTwitch account today just so I could reply to this thread on my flight home from San Diego to Madison!
First of all, thank you for this article calling out some of the challenges of the overlapping elite amateur and pro field, while also acknowledging the insane speed of the top pros at this race. I’m on the edge of my saddle waiting to see what (if anything) Ironman does to address this “Rise of The Elite Amateur” racer profile, and the rather pro-like racing dynamics that elite amateur athletes create amongst themselves (especially the top 3 to 5 men and women) at competitive 70.3 races. Personally, I’m routing for a new “elite amateur” category to emerge in Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races; I’d cast my vote for qualification standards (Ironman’s “All World Athlete” gold status would work just fine), non-rolling starts that allow for “real” racing dynamics among these highly competitive athletes, and the same drafting / equipment rules as the pro field.
As someone who has been trying to claw my way to a pro card for years now but not able to attain it (despite multiple top ten 70.3 AG finishes at this point), all I can say is, “It’s actually not that easy to get your pro card, especially if you try to do it through the route of a Top 3 Amateur Female Finish at an Elite Qualifying Race (EQR) like Oceanside, and you’re not trying to play the game of ‘How do I go collect USAT points at skewed, non-competitve races to get my pro card in the easiest way possible.’ ”
I feel like attaining a pro card through the EQR pathway is still VERY hard in no small part because–as this past weekend’s results demonstrate–here are some facts about the top elite amateur women at a race like Oceanside: 1) They are training like pros (often while having full-time jobs in non-triathlon careers, being moms, or both), 2) They have the mindset of wanting to get better and better at the sport (just like pros), and they work diligently at it for years, 3) Objectively, they’re FAST. (I know, because I tried to be up there in the top 3 on Saturday, and got my ass handed to me by not one, not two, but SEVEN other women.)
Conclusion: The fact that the top 3 amateur women at Oceanside had stronger race performances than a fair amount of existing pros, to me, doesn’t prove that those pros “don’t deserve” to be pros. Those pros earned their status, after all, through years of dedicated training and racing, and they’re allowed to have a bad day (or a bad season!) without people calling for their pro license to be revoked. (I’d also be willing to bet that if you interviewed all of the pros who got beat by amateur racers on Saturday, a lot of them would tell you that they aren’t thrilled about how their race shook out.) I respect those women and what they had to do to earn their pro cards in the first place. I’m telling you emphatically from the inside of the experience, it is not that easy to do.
What we should conclude, instead, from what we just saw at Oceanside in both the pro field and the amateur field is: 1) “Holy sh*t this sport is getting fast,” and 2) "The increasing pro-level performances from the ‘elite amateur’ field may require some rethinking on the part of USAT about pro qualification standards, but certainly merits some rethinking on the part of Ironman about how to handle the categorization and race experiences of these pro-ish, non-pro athletes.”
P.S. Requesting a journalistic revision: EW, could you please add my name to the list of women who beat the most female pros?! I think I finished ahead of…5 (?), and you listed two people ahead of me who finished ahead of 2. Thanks!
Completely agree, needs to be MUCH harder to become “pro”. From my experience listening and talking with people many people do this as it’s much “cheaper” to race as a pro. Funny enough I coach quite a few of these people in the list above that “beat” pros. Almost all have no desire of going pro. At quick glance (not putting much thought into this) if you can’t break 4:00 at 70.3 Oceanside should you really be pro? End rant.
An “open” or “elite amateur” wave is what a lot of my guys talk about! (Obvi this is super fun to think & talk about but likely nothing will happen hahah)
I will get this fixed. Welcome to the forum. we are glad to have you.