Lionel Sanders gets first win of 2023
American Danielle Lewis defends title at Ironman 70.3 Oregon
Photo by:
Ironman/ Donald Miralle
For Canadian Lionel Sanders going over a year without a win is rare, but this weekend he got back to the top of the podium – his first win since Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant last year – at Ironman 70.3 Oregon. (That’s not to imply Sanders hasn’t raced well – after a crash at Clash Miami, he took fourth at Ironman 70.3 St. George, then had two runner up finishes at Ironman 70.3 Gulf Coast and Ironman 70.3 Boulder.)
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Sanders was in 22nd place after the swim, 1:38 behind leader Marc Dubrick (16:13) after the down-river swim that saw some very quick swim times. Within 18 km Sanders had stormed to second place, just 38 seconds behind Chile’s Martin Ulloa. Sanders took the lead at the 50 km point of the race, but never dropped Ulloa, who was first into T2, just a second ahead of the Canadian.
On the run, though, there was no touching Sanders, who was 1:32 up through the halfway point of the half marathon. By the time he got to the finish line (3:33:37), Sanders’ 1:11:30 run split put him 3:33 ahead of Ulloa (3:37:11), who was only just able to hold off American Trevor Foley (3:37:19) by eight seconds.
Lewis defends her title
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New Zealand’s Teresa Adam led the women out of the water, with American Rachel Olson on her heels. Canadian super-master Mel McQuaid was fourth out of the water, 52 seconds back of the leaders.
American Lisa Becharas would lead the women off the bike, with countrywoman Danielle Lewis 1:25 behind and McQuaid third into T2, 5:25 behind.
Lewis would take the lead by the first mile (1.6 km) of the run and never look back as cruised to a comfortable win, defending her Ironman 70.3 Oregon title in 3:59:41. American Lesley Smith would run her way to second (4:07:27), with Batya Beard (USA) rounding out the podium in 4:11:42. McQuaid would finish 11th in 4:17:11.
