Cody Beals runs his way to a second-place finish at Challenge Cancun
In the men’s race, Andy Potts (USA) came out of the water seven seconds ahead of Ben Hoffman (USA), and a minute ahead of Taylor Reid (CAN) and Cody Beals (CAN). Heading into the weekend, Reid was coming off of a fourth-place finish at Ironman 70.3 Oceanside, and Beals was looking to get his season started after a DNF at Ironman 70.3 Taiwan (due to illness).
Halfway through the bike, Potts made his move and opened a four-minute gap on Hoffman heading into T2. During the first part of the run, Potts was losing time to his pursuers including Reid, Beals and Hoffman. The Canadian training partners, Beals and Reid, went head-to-head and closed the gap to Hoffman to less than 1:30 at the halfway mark.
In the end, Potts crossed the line in 3:49:26. Beals followed him in 3:50:32, and Hoffman took third (3:51:44). Taylor Reid finished fourth in 3:54:34.
Related: Catching up with Cody Beals
In the women’s race, Ellie Salthouse (AUS) led the race from start to finish. The Aussie swam the 1.9K course in 25:30 and had roughly a two minute lead on a chase pack of three, including Mirinda Carfrae (AUS).
On the bike, Salthouse continued to open up her lead on Carfrae. At the halfway mark, Salthouse had a four-minute buffer on her fellow countrywoman. By T2, there were almost five minutes between the two Aussies.
The gap between Salthouse and Carfrae continued to increase on the run, and by the end, Salthouse (4:09:37) took the win by over eight minutes. Carfrae finished second (4:18:17), and Yvonne Van Vlerken (AUT) was third (4:34:21).
