Brownlee, Lawrence Victorious at 2017 Ironman 70.3 North American Pro Championship St. George

By Wires May 7, 2017

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After a victorious debut at a half-distance event in Challenge Mogan Gran Canaria two weeks ago, Alistair Brownlee made his Ironman 70.3 debut and immediately served notice of his arrival in the middle distance racing scene.

Alistair Brownlee (GBR) and Holly Lawrence (GBR) battled an impressive professional field of athletes to capture titles at today’s IRONMAN^® 70.3^® North American Pro Championship St. George triathlon. Making his IRONMAN 70.3 debut, two-time Olympic gold medalist and ITU World Champion, Brownlee set a new course record with a finish time of 3:41:58. Lawrence, fresh off her win at the 2017 IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside, earned her second victory of the year with a time of 4:12:07.

Brownlee was neither the fastest on any discipline, but had the 2nd fastest swim, bike and run finish to hold off a hard-charging Lionel Sanders (CAN), who ran the fastest run split of the day at 1:12:19. Brownlee’s margin of victory over Sanders was 33 seconds. Multiple world champion Sebastian Kienle closed podium with 3rd at 3:46:20.

Lawrence combined her women’s best swim and bike splits to dominate the race and win with a victory margin of 3:05 over Jeanni Seymour of South Africa and 10:18 over Ellie Salthouse of Australia. Her bike split of 2:17:46 was more than 7 minutes better than anyone of the women’s field.

The 2017 IRONMAN 70.3 North American Pro Championship St. George saw more than 2,100 athletes representing 31 countries and 43 states start the race. Competitors ranged in age from 18–77 years old. One of more than 100 events in the global IRONMAN 70.3 Series, the IRONMAN 70.3 North American Pro Championship St. George triathlon led athletes along a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run on a course that utilized the beautiful city and surrounding landscape of St. George. Athletes began their day with a single-loop swim in the protected waters of Sand Hollow Reservoir. Once out of the water, participants embarked upon a single-loop bike course through the towns of Hurricane, Washington and St. George before proceeding up Snow Canyon parkway and through the picturesque Snow Canyon State Park. The single-loop run course wound through the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve and offered amazing views of St. George while running along the bluff before returning to the finish line on Main Street in the heart of downtown. Offering a total professional prize purse of $100,000, the race also awarded a total of 75 age-group qualifying slots for the 2017 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, which will take place in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The championship race will be a two-day event with the professional and age-group women racing on Saturday, September 9 and the professional and age-group men racing on Sunday, September 10.

Top Five professional men’s results:

SWIM BIKE RUN FINISH

1. Alistair Brownlee GBR 00:23:18 02:01:39 01:14:49 03:41:58

2. Lionel Sanders CAN 00:26:25 02:01:24 01:12:19 03:42:31

3. Sebastian Kienle DEU 00:25:23 02:01:53 01:16:10 03:46:20

4. Tim Don GBR 00:23:57 02:05:27 01:16:42 03:48:26

5. Ben Kanute USA 00:23:16 02:06:47 01:18:11 03:50:29

Top Five professional women’s results:

SWIM BIKE RUN FINISH

1. Holly Lawrence GBR 00:24:56 02:17:46 01:26:58 04:12:07

2. Jeanni Seymour ZAF 00:25:03 02:25:00 01:22:37 04:15:12

3. Ellie Salthouse AUS 00:24:59 02:25:41 01:28:25 04:22:25