Looking Back at St. George’s Impressive (and Tough) IRONMAN Run

Daniela Ryf rides up Snow Canyon on her way to winning the IRONMAN World Championship St. George. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

The announcement last year that tomorrow’s IRONMAN 70.3 North American Championship in St. George would be the last IRONMAN event held in the city was, for many, a big surprise. Since the first IRONMAN event was held in St. George in 2010, the city in southwestern Utah has hosted 17 races – tomorrow’s race will be the 18th in 15 years. It’s been quite a run for the city and the sport, including St. George’s historic hosting of the 2021 IRONMAN World Championship, the first time the event was held outside of Hawaii and part of a three-world-championships-in-13-months spree.

As we noted in our story on Kevin Lewis (above), the man who connected IRONMAN to the region, the race has been a victim of its own success. While the community has long embraced the event, it no longer needs an IRONMAN race to increase its visibility around the world.

“The relationship with an event like IRONMAN changed the dynamic of how people thought of St. George,” Lewis told me a few years ago. “In the early 2000s we were known for golf or retirement. But there was so much to more to do in the Greater Zion area, much more than those two elements that make this a special space. Once we added IRONMAN to the mix, it helped open the eyeballs of the world and the endurance community of the potential here in St. George.”

The city has grown 31 percent since the first IRONMAN race in 2010, and while it’s still a pretty awesome spot to retire and play golf, it’s also become a popular playground for those looking for more strenuous activities.

“The 17 IRONMAN events hosted during the successful partnership leave a profound, positive legacy, and Greater Zion will continue to be known as the ‘Land of Endurance,’” local officials said in last December’s announcement.

Almost Too Tough

Ironman 70.3 St. George on May 4, 2013 in St. George, UT. Photo: Larry Rosa

As beautiful as the St. George area is, the racing is certainly very difficult. The full-distance events held in 2010 and 2011 featured lots of climbing on both the bike and run courses, along with challenging weather conditions. In 2011 the tough course got even harder thanks to extreme heat (at times up to 95 degrees F) and winds that gusted up to 40 mph.

Those winds were nothing compared to the winds the athletes faced in 2012, which chopped up waves of three to four feet in Sand Hollow Reservoir, with the windy conditions continuing to wreak havoc out on the bike course. Almost 30 percent of the field failed to finish.

Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

After declining registrations over those first years of the full-distance race in St. George, Lewis was shocked to learn that IRONMAN, despite having two more years on its agreement with the city, was going to cancel the race.

“I worked feverishly … making phone calls, strategizing and deliberating options with WTC,” Lewis told fabulouswashington.com. “At length, I presented a strategy to transition the race from a full-distance IRONMAN to an IRONMAN 70.3. I convinced WTC to stay in St. George and make the race one of WTC’s regional pro championships. That year we had more pros register than ever before at an IRONMAN Championship event. The fever for the race and the destination caught fire and became one of WTC’s most successful race destinations. The race was slated to end completely, but instead, it became one of the most prestigious IRONMAN Championship destinations.”

Canadian Heather Wurtele won the first two full distance events in St. George, with Meredith Kessler taking the win in 2012 before the race was switched to a 70.3 event. On the men’s side it was Michael Weiss who won the first year, Mathias Hecht in year two, and Ben Hoffman rounding out the full-distance run.

Women’s 70.3 Champs Through the Years

Kessler would continue her string of success in St. George with wins in 2013 and 2014, while Wurtele would return for a couple more wins in 2015 and 2016. Holly Lawrence took her first win in St. George in 2017, then added another title in 2019. In 2018 Findlay took her first St. George title. COVID forced the cancellation of the 2020 race, but Daniela Ryf would take the win in 2021. In 2022 the race hosted both the 2021 IRONMAN and 2022 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship (more on that below). Jeanni Metzler topped the field in 2023 before Findlay returned to the top of the podium last year.

Olympic Champs and Impressive Debuts

Brent McMahon at the Ironman 70.3 St. George on May 4, 2013. Photo: Larry Rosa

On the mens side of things, Canadian Olympian Brent McMahon would take the 2013 race, while the 2014 race saw 2008 gold medalist Jan Frodeno surge into his first full year of long-distance racing with a 22-second win over the defending champ. Tim Don won in 2015, with Sanders taking his first St. George title in 2016. In 2017 we got to see another Olympic gold medalist – this time Alistair Brownlee – take the win over the defending champion as the Brit held off the Canadian for a 33-second win. Sanders won again in 2018, Rudy Von Burg would win in 2019, Sanders topped the field in 2021 in an epic finish, outsprinting Sam Long for the win. Long took the wins in 2023 and 2024

Here’s a breakdown of the IRONMAN 70.3 St. George champions. (Stats from Thorsten Radde at trirating.com)

The World Championship Events

Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

In September, 2021, St. George hosted the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. With the world still bouncing back from the pandemic, there was lots of excitement for the return to world championship racing – especially since the full-distance worlds in Kona were cancelled again. Lucy Charles-Barclay would fly to her first world title, leading from start to finish and winning the race over Jeannie Metzler by over eight minutes, with Taylor Knibb getting pipped by the South African by just 11 seconds to finish third. Kat Matthews finished fourth that day, with Emma Pallant-Browne taking fifth (there ended up being five Brits in the top-10), while reigning 70.3 world champ Daniela Ryf would struggle across the line in 11th.

On the men’s side, Gustav Iden would defend his world title, with Sam Long taking second and Daniel Baekkegard rounding out the podium. Miki Taagholt would finish fourth ahead of Jackson Laundry, with Ben Kanute and Eric Lagerstrom getting across the line ahead of Magnus Ditlev, who would finish eighth.

Kristian Blummenfelt celebrates his IRONMAN world title. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

The 2021 IRONMAN World Championship would be moved to St. George and took place in May, 2022 – the first full distance worlds to take place outside of Hawaii. The men’s race saw Kristian Blummenfelt take the title, following up on his Olympic win from the year before. Lionel Sanders would finish second, just under five minutes behind Blummenfelt, but just six seconds ahead of Braden Currie. Chris Leiferman and Florian Angert would round out the top five.

Daniela Ryf would win her fifth and final IRONMAN World Championship title in St. George, dominating the day and coming across the line almost nine minutes ahead of Kat Matthews and over 12 minutes up on reigning world champ Anne Haug. Skye Moench and Ruth Astle would round out the top five.

Taylor Knibb on her way to her first 70.3 world title. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

The 2022 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship would see American Taylor Knibb fly to her first of three straight 70.3 world titles. Knibb would cross the line almost six minutes ahead of Paula Findlay, with Emma Pallant-Browne rounding out the podium. Lucy Charles-Barclay would hang on for fourth, with Tokyo gold medalist Flora Duffy taking fifth.

Blummenfelt would continue his St. George success (and overcome the “disappointment” of a third-place finish in Kona from a few weeks earlier) to take the men’s title, finishing 50 seconds ahead of Ben Kanute, with Magnus Ditlev rounding out the top three. Mika Noodt would finish fourth, ahead of countryman Frederic Funk.

It’s been a remarkable run, and tomorrow’s race promises to provide a fitting final act to the IRONMAN racing in St. George.

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