To say that it was raining at today’s Ironman Pro Series race in Mont-Tremblant would certainly be an understatement. From the time athletes were setting up their transitions until well after the race was done it rained heavily. Yes, there were a few breaks in the steady downpour, but not many. In the late afternoon thundershowers arrived in the region, too. As bad as the weather has been here in the Laurentians, a few hundred km south of us here in Mont-Tremblant, in Vermont, there are tornado warnings as that area deals with unsettled weather, too.
Despite all the rain, there was a race today here in Mont-Tremblant, albeit with a shortened swim. While the pros and many of the age group field were able to get in the water, conditions in Lac Tremblant worsened through the morning, forcing officials to cancel the swim for some of the athletes.
Triathlon Magazine editor Kevin Mackinnon was on hand for today’s race and offers up this photo gallery to document a crazy, and wet, day of racing.
They’re off! The pro men get started on the shortened swim – the swim ended up being about 1,200 m.Ben Kanute would eventually come out of the water in third place.That’s Ellie Salthouse leading the women into the water … she would finish the swim first.Matthew Marquardt would push hard early in the bike, part of a three-man group that included Kanute, and fellow American Justin Riele that would ride clear of the rest of the men.Lionel Sanders was just over a minute down after the shortened swim, and would join the lead group of three before the halfway point of the rolling bike course through the Laurentians.Fresh off her third straight victory at the Canadian National Time Trial Championships, Paula Findlay quickly moved to the front of the women’s race.Salthouse would stay with the Canadian until about the 50 km point …Tamara Jewett had a decent swim, but would end up as part of the chase group that finished the bike almost nine minutes behind Findlay and over six minutes behind Salthousse.Rain? What rain? Emily Neill is all smiles early on in the 90 km bike.Sanders would make his mark early on in the run and never look back, running clear of the rest of the field.Kanute was in fourth for much of the run, but surged late in the race to get into the podium picture.Salthouse found herself in the precarious position of trying to hold off  …… arguably one of the fastest runners in the sport, Tamara JewettAnother Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant win (his sixth) for Lionel Sanders.
Sanders’ race was even more impressive considering he’s coming off a broken rib that sidelined him for about a month after his big win at Ironman 70.3 Oceanside.Ben Kanute surged over the closing stages of the run and took the sprint for second over Matthew Marquardt.All smiles after a great two days of racing in Quebec – a win at the Canadian National Time Trial Championships on Friday …
… and a big win at Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant on Sunday.https://triathlonmagazine.ca/racing/paula-findlay-completes-magical-quebec-weekend-with-dominant-win-at-ironman-70-3-mont-tremblant/
Jewett trailed Salthouse by about 4 seconds with 1 km to go …… Salthouse put it all on the line, but had to settle with a close third-place finish.
Photo by:
Kevin Mackinnon
