We Noticed: West and Alexander Win IRONMAN 70.3 NorCal, Another IRONMAN Swim Cancelled and More

North America’s west coast was busy on the triathlon front this weekend. We covered T100 Vancouver, and further south there was also the inaugural IRONMAN 70.3 Northern California in Redding.

American Jason West took a very competitive men’s race, blasting through the run to finish almost two minutes up on Canadian Jackson Laundry, with American Sam Long taking third and Lionel Sanders finishing fourth. There were three Canadians in the top five of the men’s race, with Luke Tasker finishing one spot behind Sanders.

American Grace Alexander cruised past swim leader Rebecca Clarke (NZL) on the bike and held tough to take the women’s title ahead of Clark and fellow American Clare Dasso.

IRONMAN Leeds Swim Cancelled

Blue-green algae levels in Waterloo Lake forced the IRONMAN Leeds race organizers to cancel the swim at IRONMAN Leeds on the weekend. The event was turned into a duathlon, with athletes heading off in a rolling start of the 112-mile bike followed by the marathon run.

IRONMAN sent out a statement via social media, which some athletes saw before they received official notice of the cancellation:

“In conjunction with Leeds City Council and following the advice of the UK Health Security Agency Environmental Hazards Team, we are disappointed to announce that today’s swim practice and the swim portion of Sunday’s race will not take place.“

“The recent hot weather across the UK has led to a bloom of blue-green algae, which can be hazardous to humans.”

T100 Vancouver Inspiration

After the exciting pro women’s race on Saturday (along with the sprint and Olympic distance races and a junior development race), it was the age-groupers turn to take on the 100 km distance in Vancouver on Sunday.

We highlighted one of the athletes who was competing in Saturday’s sprint last week – David Walker. We’re happy to report that Walker finished the sprint in 2:33:22, rounding out his triathlon career in style!

Another inspirational athlete who competed on Saturday was Ray Wiss, who fought in Afghanistan and carried a flag to remember/honour two colleagues sadly lost in action. He did the race in full tactical military gear and combat boots. Wiss finished the race in 6:33:02.

Supertri Announces Yee/ Wilde Showdown at Championship

Supertri has confirmed that Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde will be on hand for the Pro Series Final in Jersey on September 6. The two will have their work cut out for them as the field will also include reigning world champion Matt Hauser.

The women’s field will include Olympic champ Cassandre Beaugrand, Georgia Taylor-Brown and reigning Supertri champ Jeanne Lehair.

No Kona for Leon Chevalier This Year

After finishing fifth at the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice in 2023, then fourth a year later in Kona, France’s Leon Chevalier has struggled to regain that same form for the last couple of years. A runner-up finish at IRONMAN 70.3 Swansea last year has been the highlight, but for the most part he’s been struggling to be at his best. He’s since come up with some answers, which he passed along in an Instagram post explaining why he won’t be in Kona later this year:

“After talking to a friend (who is also a doctor 😉) we explored the possibility of having ended up with nervous system dysregulation, a condition where the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems are out of whack, and the body is constantly in an elevated, heightened awareness state of “flight or fight”, which compromises recovery and the body’s ability to switch on and off when necessary,” Chevalier wrote. “In my particular case, my nervous system also seems to have associated racing and hard sessions (the “higher stakes”) with imminent danger, and the body shuts down in an attempt to protect me from “harm”. Since then I have explored this with my coach, psychologist and doctor and it is now pretty clear that this has been what has affected my racing this year.”

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We’ll hope that Chevalier can recover and return to racing at his best soon.

Life Time Grand Prix Announces 2027 Qualifying Process and Schedule

Slowtwitch is on hand for this weekend’s Gravel Worlds event, so stay tuned for lots of coverage from Lincoln, Nebraska.

Life Time has announced a new qualifying process for next year’s Life Time Grand Prix, along with the expanded seven-race schedule for next year’s series. According to Life Time:

The new system creates a performance-based entry process for the 25-woman and 25-man fields. The top 10 women and top 10 men from the final 2026 Life Time Grand Prix standings will receive automatic invitations for the 2027 season, alongside the top-performing woman and man from the 2026 U23 program.

The remaining 14 spots in each field will be determined through the new Sea Otter Grand Prix Qualifier during the Life Time Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA. Riders competing in the Pro category will qualify based on combined results from two events: Life Time Sea Otter Classic Gravel on Thursday and Life Time Sea Otter Classic Fuego XL on Saturday. The gravel race will also serve as the opening round of the seven-event championship in 2027, with points counting toward an athlete’s overall score upon qualification.

Next year’s schedule includes:

• Life Time Sea Otter Classic Gravel
• Life Time UNBOUND Gravel 200 presented by Shimano
• Life Time Leadville Trail 100 MTB presented by Kenetik
• Life Time Chequamegon Mountain Bike Festival
• Life Time Rad Dirt Fest
• Life Time Little Sugar MTB
• Life Time Big Sugar Gravel presented by Kenetik

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