Rachel McBride Sets Course Record at Ironman Calgary 70.3

The fast riding Rachel McBride dominated the field in Calgary today setting  new records for the bike course and race course, finishing in 4:07:19, nine minutes ahead of her closest competitor, Mandy McLane of the US. Canada’s Lisa Mensink was third in 4:17:13.

McBride exited the water in fifth but quickly opened up a huge gap on the bike with her 2:13 split. Emma Kate Lidbury had the second fastest bike split in 2:19. Despite her astonishing effort on the bike, McBride ran 1:25 to match American Erin Spitler for the fastest run split as well.

On the men’s side American Andy Potts won in 3:43:43 with Will Clarke of Great Britain only 36 seconds back in second. Brandon Marsh was third in 3:47:32. It was fourth place finisher Jordan Rapp who stole the show for the men on the bike, riding 2:02.

After the race a contented Clarke said, “My swim was the weaker part of the race, I came out about 1’15 behind Andy Potts but on the bike I rode really hard to close the gap and we ended up in a select group of Jordan Rapp, Andy Potts and Brandon Marsh. The first half of the bike was way harder than ever before for me. I had 365 watts at the far end of the course and on the way home I was expecting it to back off a bit but it never really got easier!”