Ironman 70.3 St. George preview
Canadians Lionel Sanders and Heather Wurtele headline the North American Ironman 70.3 Pro Championships
Ironman 70.3 St. George, the North American Pro Championships goes down this weekend on Saturday, May 5th. Headlining the race on the men’s and women’s side are the Canadians, Lionel Sanders and Heather Wurtele. The Canadians though will be in tough, as St. George attracts some of the world’s best 70.3 and full Ironman distance triathletes.
In the pro men’s field, Lionel will be joined by the likes of Sebastian Kienle, Tim Reed, Joe Gambles, Michael Raelert and Sam Appleton. As well as fellow Canadians Trevor Wurtele, Antione Jolicoeur Desroches and Jason Pohl.
Lionel has had a busy off season, as he looks to improve across all three disciplines, with his eyes on the top step in Kona. He opened his season with a second place at Ironman 70.3 Oceanside to Jan Fordeno. Lionel came out of the water two minutes down on Jan, but couldn’t make up the deficit on the bike or run. This weekend he will look to go for the win at a race he has had success at before; coming second to Alistair Brownlee last year and winning in 2016 ahead of Kienle.
Trevor began his season with an eight place at Ironman 70.3 Campeche. Before following it up with a sixth place in Ironman 70.3 Texas. Trevor will look to build off his early season form, as he searches for a big result at a star studded St. George race.
Antione will be entering his second race this season following Ironman 70.3 Texas. In Texas, Antione had a crash which dropped him to 25th. With the race lost, Antione helped fellow Cody Beals with his mechanical. Antione will look to turn his fortunes around at St. George.
For Jason this will be his first race of 2018. He finished of the 2017 season with an 11th at Ironman 70.3 Cozumel.
In the pro women’s field Heather will be joined by Meredith Kessler, Jeannie Seymour, Sarah True, and fellow Canadians, Melanie McQuaid and Paula Findlay.
Heather has had a great start to her season, winning Ironman 70.3 Campeche and coming third at Ironman 70.3 Texas. Coming into Ironman 70.3 St. George as the top ranked female, Heather will be looking to continue her hot start to 2018.
Melanie will entering her 2018 season following a tough finish to 2017. Just prior to Ironman Arizona last November, Melanie was taken to the hospital with an atrial fibrillation. Non life threatening, Melanie continued on and started Ironman Arizona before calling it quits 6kms into the run. Now in good health and with a solid winter of training, Melanie will toe the line this weekend at St. George.
Paula in recent years has been transitioning to doing more non-draft triathlons. She has started the 2018 season with a sixth at Ironman 70.3 Oceanside and a fourth at Escape Surf City. A true competitor, Paula is happy with the progress, but is gunning for a big result. Will this be the weekend?
