Brent McMahon wins Ironman 70.3 St. George
Meredith Kessler defends at half the distance. Heather Wurtele is third.
Sixth out of the water (23:22), and seventh after the bike (2:12:10), McMahon stayed close enough to the frontrunners (down 55 seconds to TJ Tollakson heading onto the run) and took advantage of an outstanding run (1:13:20) and claim the Ironman 70.3 St. George title today in Utah with a finishing time of 3:51:10.
“I love it here. What an awesome place. I’ve been here for almost 2 weeks,” said Victoria’s McMahon in his finish line interview on Ironmanlive. ” I wanted to win bad. I was doing hard hill repeats at home so I was ready for this. Vegas here I come.”
American’s Kevin Collington (3:53:38) and Andy Potts (3:54:21) finished second and third respectively. Kelowna’s Trevor Wurtele finished tenth (3:57:55).
See McMahon’s finish and finish line interview.
Here he is a few minutes after that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50MOFWH4wRo&feature=youtu.be
Men
| MCMAHON, Brent | CAN | 00:23:17 | 02:12:10 | 01:13:20 | 03:51:10 | 1 |
| COLLINGTON, Kevin | USA | 00:23:22 | 02:12:31 | 01:15:15 | 03:53:38 | 2 |
| POTTS, Andy | USA | 00:22:40 | 02:11:46 | 01:17:02 | 03:54:21 | 3 |
| VASSILIEV, Ivan | RUS | 00:22:42 | 02:11:48 | 01:17:55 | 03:55:08 | 4 |
| VASLIIEV, Denis | RUS | 00:22:41 | 02:11:42 | 01:18:49 | 03:55:59 | 5 |
| REED, Matt | USA | 00:23:23 | 02:11:51 | 01:19:09 | 03:56:58 | 6 |
| TOLLAKSON, Tj | USA | 00:24:18 | 02:10:05 | 01:19:27 | 03:57:00 | 7 |
| MCKENZIE, Luke | AUS | 00:23:46 | 02:11:34 | 01:19:06 | 03:57:03 | 8 |
| RANA, Ivan | ESP | 00:23:31 | 02:18:57 | 01:12:41 | 03:57:32 | 9 |
| WURTELE, Trevor | CAN | 00:25:54 | 02:11:33 | 01:17:41 | 03:57:55 | 10 |
American Meredith Kessler, winner of the full Ironman St. George last year, was 4:10 down to Germany’s Svenja Bazlen (rode a race best 2:21:39) off the bike, but ran a strong 1:22:49 to pass Bazlen for the victory (4:17:11) and take home the title of US Pro Champion in Utah. Bazlen finished just behind for second (4:18:46), and Kelowa’s Heather Wurtele ran 1:24:49 to move up a position after the bike to capture third (4:20:26).
Kessler, who plans to race her 50th Ironman race in Kona, will not be racing as many Ironman races this season. “This is my fourth year here in a row,” said Kessler at the finish line. “I’m going to do first Olympic distance (race) in two weeks. Try to race with the fast girls. And do a lot of halves, and go into Kona the first time a little fresher on the legs.”
Kessler’s finish and post-race interview.
Women
| KESSLER, Meredith | USA | 00:24:47 | 02:26:26 | 01:22:49 | 04:17:11 | 1 |
| BAZLEN, Svenja | SWE | 00:24:49 | 02:21:39 | 01:28:56 | 04:18:46 | 2 |
| WURTELE, Heather | CAN | 00:26:52 | 02:25:49 | 01:24:49 | 04:20:26 | 3 |
| LUXFORD, Annabel | AUS | 00:24:52 | 02:26:35 | 01:28:52 | 04:23:09 | 4 |
| WILLIAMSON, Kelly | USA | 00:25:00 | 02:34:23 | 01:21:11 | 04:23:13 | 5 |
| PATERSON, Lesley | USA | 00:28:29 | 02:30:58 | 01:22:04 | 04:24:39 | 6 |
| GAJER, Julia | DEU | 00:26:40 | 02:32:28 | 01:24:36 | 04:26:52 | 7 |
| PIAMPIANO, Sarah | USA | 00:29:52 | 02:24:36 | 01:29:31 | 04:27:41 | 8 |
| LIDBURY, Emma-Kate | GBR | 00:26:35 | 02:28:17 | 01:30:31 | 04:28:41 | 9 |
| CAVE, Leanda | USA | 00:25:48 | 02:28:58 | 01:31:00 | 04:29:04 | 10 |
Visit Ironman.com for full coverage of the race.
