Brandon and Long top Ironman VR2 Pro Challenge
In the second week of Ironman virtual racing, Lauren Brandon and Sam Long took the 40 km bike competition.
This weekend over 23,000 athletes took part in Ironman’s VR2 race, while eight men and women competed in the pro challenge.
This weekend’s Ironman VR challenge consisted of a 5150, or Olympic-distance, race simulation – a 3 km run, 40 km bike and a 10 km run. The professionals completed the run portions of the race on their own, then raced against each other using the Rouvy platform over the Ironman 5150 Boulder bike course. On Saturday Americans Lauren Brandon, Rachel Olsen and Chelsea Sodaro took on Denmark’s Michelle Vesterby, while on Sunday Americans Sam Long and Tim O’Donnell competed against Australian Sam Appleton and Great Britain’s David McNamee.
Brandon took the women’s race by just 27 seconds over Sodaro, with Vesterby just under two-minutes down in third.
| Name | Country | Bike Time |
| 1. Lauren Brandon | USA | 01:14:40 |
| 2. Chelsea Sodaro | USA | 01:15:07 |
| 3. Michelle Vesterby | DEN | 01:16:39 |
| 4. Rachel Olson | USA | 01:21:52 |
The full broadcast of the women’s Ironman VR2 Pro Challenge can be viewed, HERE.
It’s been quite a week for last year’s Ironman Chattanooga champion Sam Long – on Wednesday he took the Strava KOM up Mt. Lemmon from Lionel Sanders, then topped the men’s field in the Ironman VR Pro Challenge on Sunday, finishing 40 seconds ahead of Appleton. O’Donnell, who had accidentally disconnected his wife Mirinda Carfrae while she was competing in the first Ironman VR Pro challenge, managed to stay online for third.
Related: CBC reports on Mirinda Carfrae’s virtual mechanical
| Name | Country | Bike Time |
| 1. Sam Long | USA | 1:02:13 |
| 2. Sam Appleton | USA | 01:02:53 |
| 3. Tim O’Donnell | USA | 01:03:44 |
| 4. David McNamme | GBR | 01:04:22 |
The full broadcast of the men’s Ironman VR2 Pro Challenge can be viewed, HERE.
