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Macel wins again

Tereza Macel has a commanding performance at her first Subaru Ironman Canada appearance.

On the heels of her Ironman Lake Placid win five weeks previous, Tereza Macel chalked up a similar commanding performance at her first appearance at Subaru Ironman Canada. The Team TBB athlete had another great swim (51:11) and fast bike (4:58), but this time added a second best 3:17 marathon to claim a massive 30 minute margin of victory (9:11:20) over Australia’s Belinda Granger (9:40:46), a two-time champion of the event. Canadian women littered the top ten. Janelle Morrison was third (9:48:54), Tara Norton was fifth (9:59:42), Rosemarie Gerspacher was eighth (10:10:41) and Cheryl Murphy was ninth (10:12:26).

“My last Ironman run fell apart a bit over the last 10 km and, since this was a much hotter day, I really made an effort to set a comfortable pace and not go crazy too early,” explained Macel. “I was surprised a bit when at 30 km I felt as good as I had at 10, and even more so when the final five km I still felt strong. It was awesome to be able to enjoy the crowds and support from other athletes out on the course. And, of course, crossing the finish line first was super sweet.”

American Jordan Rapp, who lives in Penticton, secured his first Ironman race win (8:25:13). Rapp biked his way into the lead (4:34), and increased that advantage as he ran a 2:55:32 race-best marathon. Switzerland’s Mike Aigroz finished second (8:40:17) and Australia’s Courtney Ogden was third (8:44:37).

Like the women, the Canadian men did well on the home soil race. In fourth was 2006 Champion Jasper Blake (8:48:29), Wolfgang Guembel was fifth (8:50:27), Kyle Marcotte was seventh (8:58:34) and Anthony Toth ninth (9:02:45).

During the swim portion of the race, Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta’s Walter Eugene Wiwchar died after experiencing health problems. The 66-year-old was participating in his first Ironman, but had completed half Ironmans and Olympic distance races before. This was the first death in the 27-year history of Ironman Canada.