Canadians roar at Ironman 70.3 St. George
Laundry, Findlay and Wurtele make the podium at Ironman 70.3 St. George - the North American Championship
On May 3rd, Ironman announced that St. George, Utah would be the host of the 2021 Ironman 70.3 World Championship and a full distance event in 2020 and 2023. A day later, racing got underway at the 70.3 North American Championship in St. George.
In the men’s race, Eric Lagerstrom (USA) led the field out of the water. Americans Rodolphe Von Berg and Andrew Kelly followed, ahead of Andrew Yoder (USA), Ben Hoffman (USA) and Sebastian Kienle (GER).
Related: Training day with Jackson Laundry
After an impressive swim from Kienle, the German took an untimely position penalty, losing five minutes to the leaders. Von Berg took control of the race on the bike and had almost a four-minute lead on his pursuers going into T2. On the run, Von Berg cruise to win the race. Bart Aernouts (BEL), the 2018 Kona runner-up posted a 1:14:54 to finish second. Canadian Jackson Laundry ran his way on to the podium, posting the fastest run of the day – 1:14:28. He edged out fellow countryman Stephen Kilshaw by 26 seconds.
In the women’s race, Canadian Paula Findlay looked to defend her 2018 title against a very deep field.
Haley Chura (USA) led Holly Lawrence (GBR) and the rest of the women out of the water. Lawrence and Findlay broke away on the bike and opened up a sizable gap on the others. Heading into T2 Lawerence had gapped Findlay by three minutes. On the run, Lawerence was in a class of her own, running a 1:21:16 to take the win. Findlay finished second, and Heather Wurtele (CAN) ran her way on to the podium.
