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West and Salthouse master Memphis 70.3

Canadian Taylor Reid takes 11th

Photo by: Dylan Buell/Getty Images for Ironman

Australia’s Ellie Salthouse made it two wins in two weeks thanks to a solid ride, while American Jason West moved up a spot on the podium after his runner-up finish in Augusta last week, running his way to the win thanks to a sub-70 minute half marathon.

Salthouse leads from start to finish

As is her typical winning formula, Salthouse led the women out of the water, but had some company in the form of American Ali Brauer heading out onto the bike. The only other woman who would be in contention through the day was Jackie Hering, who came out the water about a minute behind the two leaders.

Out on the bike Salthouse quickly pulled away from Brauer, who was caught by Hering by the halfway point of the ride. The two Americans found themselves losing time to Salthouse, though – they were 2:46 down at the halfway point, and almost five minutes behind starting the run. Hering would gain some time back on Salthouse through the run, closing the gap to just over a minute by the end of the race, but Salthouse was easily able to take her second win in two weeks thanks to her 4:12:35 finish. Hering would cross the line in 4:13:44, while Brauer would lose time on the run but still round out the podium in 4:26:25.

Jason West runs through the rain to take the win at Ironman 70.3 Memphis. Photo: Ironman Now screenshot

West flies through a 69-minute half for the win

American Jason West is making his move from draft-legal racing to the half-distance in style of late – last weekend he ran a sub-70 minute half marathon to nail second at Ironman 70.3 Augusta, and this weekend he posted another quick run to move up a spot on the podium.

West was part of a 10-man group that trailed fellow American Marc Dubrick out of the water by about a minute, but it didn’t take long for the group that included other pre-race favourites including South Africa’s Bradley Weiss and American Ben Hoffman to catch up to the swim leader on the bike. Hoffman, fresh off a third-place finish at Ironman Chattanooga last weekend, pushed hard to open up a gap off the bike, hitting T2 26 seconds up on Weiss and about a minute on the rest of the large group that included West.

West flew through the opening stages of the run, though, seemingly daring Weiss and Dubrick to go with him – they didn’t, and by 5 km he was eight seconds up on the swim leader and 40 seconds ahead of Weiss. The South African would mount a charge over the second half of the marathon, pulling ahead and clear of Dubrick and gaining back some of the time he’s lost to West, but it wasn’t nearly enough as West’s 1:09:17 half-marathon was more than enough to get him the win in 3:45:05. Weiss would cross in 3:46:40, while Dubrick rounded out the podium in 3:49:29. Brazil’s Andre Lopes would take fourth in 3:52:04, while American Marty Andrie got to the line in 3:43:40 to finish fifth just 18 seconds up on Brazil’s Danilo Pimental.

Canada’s Taylor Reid finished in 4:07:53 to take 11th.