Weekend recap: Tisseyre second at Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga
Magali Tisseyre delivered another strong result this season, placing second behind American Heather Jackson at this weekend’s Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga. With Mirinda Carfrae rounding out the podium, it was a fast women’s race with blistering run splits right to the end.
Canada had two other pros finish in the top 15. In a stacked international men’s field including Germany’s Sebastian Kienle, Bahrain Endurance’s Sam Appleton and more, Alex Vanderlinden pulled off 12th place in 4:06:44. Though he hoped for a better placing, he says that the first race of the season never goes as expected and agreed that the Chattanooga course was a challenging one.
“The first half of the bike went well,” he said after the race. “I was relaxed, some confidence was coming back into the brain. But slowly, some aches and pains came to greet me. My back tightened and a couple of guys bridged up to me. I was in the middle of throwing a small pity party for myself but decided to change my attitude and I hung in with the group of four or five and rode with them to the end.
It’s not a super fast run course in Chattanooga. There are a few hills and I counted three 180 degree turns in each of the two loops.”
Check out Alex Vanderlinden’s monthly column for TMC here.
Canada’s Jenny Fletcher, who now resides in California, placed 13th. Before the race, TMC caught up with Fletcher, who works as a full-time model as well as pro triathlete.
“My expectation is to give my best effort that I can,” she said. “Whatever that is I’m trying to push myself in a different way and give myself a chance to have the best year I can by mentally preparing myself more. I feel stronger and better than ever at 40. So just continually looking to see what I can do. Training has always been my specialty… But putting it all together on race day takes time. Each race is about having breakthroughs. For me, breaking it apart into smaller sections and focus on being present and giving the most I can at that moment.”
Fletcher will be racing in Canada at Challenge Penticton this summer and is an ambassador for the 106 West Triathlon, the highest triathlon in North America taking place in the Colorado rockies.
Pierre Lavoie placed first in the men’s 50-55 age group. Canada had several other age groupers place in the top five of their respective categories.
