Home > Feature

Weekend preview | Canadians take on 70.3s Campeche, Taiwan

Who to watch for at the pro races on March 18

With the 2018 Ironman 70.3 season well underway, two pro race this weekend have attracted strong international fields including some of Canada’s best long course talent. Here’s a preview of what we can expect to see on Sunday’s Ironman 70.3 Campeche and Ironman 70.3 Taiwan:

Ironman 70.3 Campeche 

Both Heather and Trevor Wurtele, who took first and third respectively at last year’s Ironman 70.3 Campeche, are returning to the start line this weekend. With an ever decreasing number of pro Ironman races, we’re seeing even more talent in the pro line ups each weekend. Both Wurteles are strong favourites for the podium, but some of their main competition include some top-ranked international athletes as well as fellow Canadians.

On the women’s side, Linsey Corbin, Angela Naeth (CAN) and Sarah Piampiano stand out to us as favourites. For the men, it’ll be hard to beat Terenzo Bozzone who’s going for his third win in as many weekends and has been unstoppable in late 2017/early 2018.

Canada’s Stephanie Roy, a budding star from Quebec who earned her first 70.3 win last year, is set to race Campeche as well as Sarah Casaubon and Caroline Martineau (also from Quebec).

Ontario-based training partners Jackson Laundry, another 2017 breakout star, and 3-time Ironman 70.3 champ Taylor Reid will line up too, as well as new pro Loren Nelson.

Ironman 70.3 Taiwan

View this post on Instagram

Here we go again! #IM703Taiwan

A post shared by Cody Beals (@cody.beals) on

Fan favourite Cody Beals took second in a very strong field at Ironman 70.3 Campeche last year, but he will be absent on this year’s start line as he races in Asia for the first time at Ironman 70.3 Taiwan. With a big sponsor in Taiwanese audio product company Bliiq, Beals has spent some time in Taiwan over the past year for promotional purposes. Most recently he starred in this cool commercial put out by the company in summer 2017:

Big contenders on the men’s side at Ironman 70.3 Campeche include Andy Potts, Tim Van Berkel and Guy Crawford.