A Hat Trick for Alexander in Muskoka
A Pair of wins for Carfrae.
Can anyone beat Australia’s Craig Alexander in Muskoka? Alexander pulled off his third win in as many years yesterday at Ironman 70.3 Muskoka. Fellow Aussie Mirinda Carfrae made the journey north again this year and was rewarded with another victory.
Alexander, the only male winner of this race, did his typical come from behind maneuver and this time American Paul Matthews was his victim. Matthews rode the best 94 km bike in 2:16:04, which gave him a 2:30 margin heading onto the run but cue the Alexander express. He ran the top half marathon of 1:12:04, to finish in 3:58:33 – the only sub 4-hour performance. Matthews trotted in for second (4:00:01), and in third was South Africa’s Raynard Tissink (4:05:13) who, like Alexander, was using this race to prepare for Kona. And you can’t argue against Alexander’s success. Each time he has raced here, he has gone on to win the Ironman World Championships. We will have to wait until October 9 to find out if that will happen once again.
Carfrae typically races the same way as Alexander but she made it apparent yesterday that her biking has improved. Not only did she run the best half marathon (1:18:15), she had the fastest bike split (2:39:55) on this hilly course, which gave her a second consecutive win in 4:28:36. New Zealand’s Joanna Lawn was a distant second by 12:36 (4:40:52), followed by Nottawa’s Claudia Johnston (4:51:16) in the women’s 35-39 age group. With an improved bike, Carfrae will be even more of a threat at the Ironman World Championships.
Top 5 Men
1. Craig Alexander (AUS)Â 3:58:33
2. Paul Matthews (USA)Â 4:00:01
3. Raynard Tissink (RSA)Â 4:05:13
4. Chris Legh (AUS)Â 4:06:48
5. Jeff Symonds (CAN)Â 4:09:24
Top 5 Women
1. Mirinda Carfrae (AUS)Â 4:28:36
2. Joanna Lawn (NZL)Â 4:40:52
3. Claudia Johnson (CAN)Â 4:51:16
4. Ayesha Rollinson (CAN)Â 4:51:19
5. Amy Kirkham (CAN)Â 4:52:15
Canadian Age Group Standouts (Top 3)
5 Van Kooten, Chris 7/3/2 29/M25-29 00:31:35 02:33:33 01:25:58 04:36:05
9 Hooper, Chris 7/3/2 33/M30-34 00:31:00 02:39:20 01:28:00 04:43:39
12 Whitby, Brandon 1/1/2 41/M40-44 00:28:03 02:40:15 01:31:32 04:44:42
14 Beech, Jeff 7/4/2 39/M35-39 00:30:13 02:45:32 01:27:56 04:47:36
15 Biernacki, Tony 24/3/2 45/M45-49 00:35:17 02:33:59 01:34:23 04:48:05
23 Porten, Hans J. 3/2/2 54/M50-54 00:29:29 02:45:31 01:33:16 04:53:32
78 Fernando, Mindy 8/2/2 32/W30-34 00:34:53 03:00:13 01:34:11 05:14:30
87 Anderson, Angie 5/2/2 43/W40-44 00:34:10 02:56:28 01:41:15 05:16:44
88 Nicol, Jennifer 7/5/2 36/W35-39 00:33:26 02:58:58 01:38:18 05:16:47
39 Cermak, Naomi 1/2/2 28/W25-29 00:27:38 02:49:51 01:57:10 05:21:23
48 Giffen, John 16/2/2 58/M55-59 00:40:37 02:58:17 01:52:44 05:37:53
49 Tindale-Fox, Carmel 4/4/2 49/W45-49 00:33:31 03:08:50 01:48:14 05:38:18
53 Barnes, Harry 1/2/2 64/M60-64 00:37:11 03:07:54 01:47:37 05:40:44
55 Blanshard, Joni 1/2/2 52/W50-54 00:34:19 03:09:30 01:59:03 05:50:11
64 OLACKE, Becky 1/2/2 24/W18-24 00:33:48 03:28:52 01:59:47 06:09:53
67 Pounder, Donna 1/1/2 56/W55-59 00:40:55 03:24:14 02:13:25 06:26:25
73 Buechner, Udo 1/1/2 67/M65-69 00:41:02 03:24:25 02:41:29 06:56:49
7 MacKinnon, Chad 3/2/3 29/M25-29 00:30:15 02:34:14 01:32:12 04:40:05
16 Seedhouse, Erik 3/5/3 46/M45-49 00:29:25 02:42:07 01:31:46 04:48:57
17 Tucker, Jeremy 2/2/3 36/M35-39 00:27:40 02:47:07 01:30:20 04:49:17
38 French, Melissa 4/4/3 30/W30-34 00:32:29 03:04:20 01:37:46 05:19:48
41 Chisholm, Allison 8/2/3 38/W35-39 00:34:31 02:47:35 01:51:53 05:22:43
42 Humphrey, Linnea 2/3/3 44/W40-44 00:32:06 03:02:31 01:45:51 05:26:00
43 Vaillancourt, Jennifer 3/3/3 28/W25-29 00:30:15 03:01:20 01:48:17 05:26:30
52 Denonville, Martin 3/3/3 58/M55-59 00:35:33 03:04:05 01:53:30 05:40:00
56 Innes, Kellie 5/2/3 47/W45-49 00:36:09 02:58:59 02:06:08 05:50:13
60 Dupras, Anne-Marie 6/4/3 50/W50-54 00:42:48 03:07:42 01:54:32 05:53:07
65 Holek, Karen 2/3/3 21/W18-24 00:36:31 03:30:01 02:10:14 06:22:04
68 Drake, Michael 4/3/3 62/M60-64 00:44:13 03:14:36 02:13:06 06:28:09
70 Cole, Nancy 4/3/3 57/W55-59 00:52:34 03:29:47 02:15:48 06:44:31
