Wurtele repeats at St. George

Kelowna’s Heather Wurtele trailed out of the water in third position (55:00), gained on the leaders with a 5:17:00 bike to get into second, then ran a women’s best 3:15:50 to pass Jodie Swallow (GBR) to defend her Ironman St. George title in dominating fashion. In the process she also set a new course record of 9:30:33. Over 36 minutes later, Americans Jackie Arendt crossed the finish line in second (10:06:36), followed by Uli Bromme (10:10:48).

Jodie Swallow, the Ironman 70.3 World Champion, took a 5-minute lead onto the run in her Ironman debut, but was forced to withdraw due to a foot injury.

Switzerland’s Mathias Hecht was one of three men to run a sub-three hour marathon today and he used the top run split of (2:56:50) to come from behind to win the men’s race in 8:32:03. Germany’s Maik Twelsiek roared to the front of the race during the bike (4:36:20) but his 3-minute lead was not enough to keep Hecht at bay. He claimed second, less than two minutes behind (8:33:46), and the USA’s TJ Tollakson ran 2:58:02 to get third (8:40:20).

Calgary’s Wesley Bauer (12:01:29), 22, and Michelle Milot (11:06:49), 32, both finished second in their age group, and Victoria’s Ben Cotter finished third among men 30-34 (9:35:46).

Women

1 Wurtele, Heather (CAN)  9:30:33

2 Arendt, Jackie (USA)  10:06:36

3 Bromme, Uli (USA)  10:10:48

4 Smith, Jessica (USA)  10:20:45 *W30-34

5 Toomingas, Liis (EST)  10:36:36

6 Kozulina, Tamara (UKR)  10:43:37

Men

1 Hecht, Mathias (SUI)  8:32:03

2 Twelsiek, Maik (GER)  8:33:46

3 Tollakson, TJ (USA)  8:40:20

4 Hoffman, Ben (USA)  8:41:39

5 Aigroz, Mike (SUI) 8:42:06

6 Ambrose, Paul (GBR)  8:51:41

7 Santamaria, Alejandro (ESP)  9:04:38

8 Brader, Christian (GER)  9:08:19

9 Vabrousek, Petr (CZE)  9:11:11

10 McKinnon, Bevan (NZL)  9:12:37