The Bennett’s conquer Ironman 70.3 Raleigh
Melanie McQuaid takes third, and Suzanne Zelazo eighth.
The husband and wife team of Greg and Laura Bennett took victories today at the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Raleigh.
American Laura Bennett started off the day with the top swim of 24:41, but she surrendered the lead to Great Britain’s Emma-Kate Lidbury during the bike (Lidbury rode the top split of 2:20:22). Trailing Lidbury by 2 minutes at the end of the ride, Bennett ran down Lidbury with a 1:25:53 half marathon to grab the victory in 4:17:18. Lidbury held on to second (4:21:14), and Victoria’s Melanie McQuaid maintained her third place position for the entire race (4:26:56). Our own Suzanne Zelazo (Triathlon Magazine Canada’s Managing Editor), snuck in a race amidst her busy schedule and finished eighth (4:44:33).
Pro Women
| BENNETT, Laura | USA | 00:24:41 | 02:24:15 | 01:25:53 | 04:17:18 | 1 |
| LIDBURY, Emma-Kate | GBR | 00:26:30 | 02:20:22 | 01:31:28 | 04:21:14 | 2 |
| MCQUAID, Melanie | CAN | 00:28:24 | 02:22:06 | 01:33:59 | 04:26:56 | 3 |
| JACOBS, Jessica | USA | 00:32:22 | 02:28:28 | 01:24:29 | 04:28:19 | 4 |
| SHUTT, Beth | USA | 00:30:57 | 02:25:45 | 01:32:45 | 04:32:31 | 5 |
| ROOHI, Molly | USA | 00:33:37 | 02:33:46 | 01:28:02 | 04:38:30 | 6 |
| FILLNOW, Kelly | USA | 00:33:52 | 02:32:36 | 01:31:34 | 04:40:59 | 7 |
| ZELAZO, Suzanne | CAN | 00:31:00 | 02:29:01 | 01:41:15 | 04:44:33 | 8 |
| MIGHDOLL, Michelle | USA | 00:32:16 | 02:36:24 | 01:51:33 | 05:03:32 | 9 |
| MCAMMOND, Jordan | USA | 00:32:12 | 02:40:28 | 02:00:45 | 05:17:37 | 10 |
Greg Bennett dominated the men’s race once he got out of the water. He swam 25:06 (just 2 seconds behind the top swim by fellow American TJ Tollakson), then crushed the bike (2:06:35) and run (1:17:22) courses to earn the easy win in 3:51:24.
Pro Men
| BENNETT, Greg | AUS | 00:25:06 | 02:06:35 | 01:17:22 | 03:51:24 | 1 |
| EICHER, Paul | USA | 00:28:24 | 02:11:37 | 01:21:57 | 04:04:41 | 2 |
| PAWLACZYK, Kyle | USA | 00:28:50 | 02:12:44 | 01:21:24 | 04:05:41 | 3 |
| RAU, Ryan | USA | 00:28:19 | 02:12:55 | 01:23:04 | 04:06:55 | 4 |
| HERMANSON, Mike | USA | 00:28:26 | 02:17:22 | 01:19:01 | 04:07:53 | 5 |
| HAGENBUCH, Henry | USA | 00:27:13 | 02:14:22 | 01:24:40 | 04:09:00 | 6 |
| BATES, Ryan | USA | 00:28:06 | 02:13:46 | 01:26:59 | 04:11:18 | 7 |
| TOLLAKSON, Tj | USA | 00:25:04 | 02:10:20 | 01:35:58 | 04:14:01 | 8 |
| WOOD, Tom | USA | 00:28:23 | 02:20:48 | 01:21:48 | 04:14:09 | 9 |
| HEILIG, Andrej | DEU | 00:28:58 | 02:20:48 | 01:25:51 | 04:18:47 | 10 |
