Heather Wurtele Gets Another Podium at Worlds

Heather Wurtele has made it three for three in terms of podium finishes at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship thanks to a fantastic run that moved her onto the podium.

“I had to dig really deep over the last half of the run, but I was determined to at least make it to the top three,” Wurtele said after her race today. “It would have been nice to move up a step, but these girls are so fast, so it’s exciting to be show the consistency and get on the podium again.”

Holly Lawrence (UK) dominated the women’s race, coming out of the water in second and quickly moving to the front on the bike. She had a lead of just under four minutes over American Lauren Brandon off the bike and just under five minutes on Wurtele and a huge chase pack.

Melanie Hauschildt (AUS) was able to run her way to second, which left Wurtele the tough task of passing Caroline Steffen and holding off Daniela Ryf to round out the podium.

Magali Tisseyre finished in 10th. (Canadian-born Alicia Kaye, who now races for the USA, finished eighth.)

Sanders chases

The much anticipated men’s race turned out to be a true barn-burner, but Canada’s own Lionel Sanders wasn’t part of the action at the front of the race. Sanders trailed by around three minutes on the main contenders (he was four minutes behind swim leader Josh Amberger), but wasn’t able to gain any ground on the large group of men who congregated at the front of the race, led by German’s Sebastian Kienle and Andreas Dreitz.

In the end Tim Reed (AUS) outsprinted Kienle for the title, with Switzerland’s Ruedi Wild rounding out the men’s podium. Sanders ran his way to 9th.

Other Canadian men in the field included Brent McMahon, 14th, Trevor Wurtele, 26th and Taylor Reid, 28th.

Lionel Sanders wasn't able to bridge to the lead group on the bike - he would run his way to

She's officially from the US now, but we always remember that Alicia Kaye was born in Canada! She finished 8th.

Trevor Wurtele got to the halfway point of the run just ahead of Taylor Reid.

Trevor Wurtele finished 26th.

Taylor Reid finished 28th.

All smiles thanks to a third-place finish for Heather Wurtele.