Canadian duo puts on dramatic show at Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells-La Quinta

Canadian Paula Findlay took a brilliant runner-up finish at the 70.3 world championship in October (pictured above) in St. George – today she followed up that big day with another title, dominating the bike and staying strong through the run at Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells-La Quinta in California. The 2012 Olympian was pushed right to the line, though, as countrywoman Tamara Jewett flew an incredible 1:14:06 run split to finish just 46 seconds behind in second.

Findlay was second out of the water, four seconds behind South Africa’s Jeanni Metzler (25:40). Tamara Jewett, another Canadian pre-race favourite, was out of the water in fourth, 1:19 behind the leaders. Findlay quickly surged to the front of the race on the bike, hitting T2 with a lead of 5:46 on American Danielle Lewis, with Jewett exactly one minute behind the American in third.

Out on the run course Jewett, arguably the fastest runner in the sport, quickly hammered towards the front of the race. Through 6 km she’d made up two minutes of Findlay’s lead, moving into second ahead of Lewis. At that pace she was on track to take the overall win, but Findlay was able to find another gear, holding off the fast-moving Jewett’s charge to the front. With 3 km to go the gap was down to just over a minute, but the former national team runner (Jewett) could only gain another 20 seconds in the closing stages of the race.

Findlay hung tough for her second Indian Wells-La Quinta title in 4:06:10 after a 1:20:07 half-marathon. Jewett would cross the line in 4:06:57, while Lewis rounded out the podium in 4:11:29. Metzler would finish fourth in 4:15:46.