Weekend Wrap-Up: Ironman Lake Placid, Ironman France, Ironman 70.3 Calgary

By Wires July 25, 2017

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Ironman Lake Placid

Brent McMahon (CAN) battled a competitive men’s professional field to claim victory at the 2017 IRONMAN^® Lake Placid triathlon. McMahon dominated in the run with a finish time of 8:14:04, setting a new course record. Andy Potts (USA) finished in second place with a time of 8:37:46while Justin Daerr (USA) rounded out the podium in third with a time of 8:45:40, respectively.

Very little was settled throughout the 112 miles of the bike in the male pro only race at IRONMAN Lake Placid. TJ Tollakson (USA), Andy Potts (USA) and Brent McMahon (CAN) played cat-and-mouse as the trio shuffled positions at the front of the race for the entire ride. The lead three managed to bury the field with closest threat to the leaders being 21 minutes in arrears after the bike. The three dismounted their bikes within 35 seconds of each other and stormed into transition readying to duke it out for the win on the run.

It was apparent from the opening mile that McMahon was going to be the one to beat. Potts, running in second, struggled to keep his deficit to less than seven minutes throughout the first half of the run. However from there, the wheels fell off Potts race while McMahon was putting on a run clinic, smacking out the fastest run on the day (2:43:40). McMahon scored the win by a 23:53 winning margin over Potts and 31:47 on Justin Daerr (USA), setting a new course record in the process.

Top 5 Pro Men

1	McMahon, Brent	CAN	8:13:53
2	Potts, Andy	USA	8:37:46
3	Daerr, Justin	USA	8:45:40
4	Close, Greg	USA	8:57:09
5	Pozzetta, Lucas	USA	9:02:55

Ironman France

Frederik van Lierde paced himself to his fourth victory at this weekend’s IRONMAN France. One year after he ranked sixth in Nice only six weeks after breaking his shoulder in a bad crash, he came back to the Promenade des Anglais to shine once again.

The Belgian 2013 IRONMAN world champion focused on his strengths and combined a strong bike and run to dominate the men’s race. He came out of the water close behind leader Denis Chevrot and moved immediately to the front on the bike. Although Australian Cameron Wurf became a fast shadow on the bike course, van Lierde didn’t push too hard. Wurf almost touched the bike course record and almost caught up with van Lierde, but suffered early on the run and dropped out. After winning here from 2011 to 2013, the 38-year-old mastered the pro field including storming runner Alessandro Degasperi on the flat run. Italy’s strong marathoner moved from sixth into second position during the run, while French Denis Chevrot battled down Eneko Llanos for third.

Australia’s breakaway on the bike was more successful in women’s race than in the men’s. Annabel Luxford was the first Aussie to lead te women’s race thanks to the fastest swim time. Starting the tough bike ride with a disadvantage of 3:13 minutes, her compatriot Carrie Lester then made her move on the second half of the challenging course. Coming off the bike with a lead of almost 2:30, Lester eventually had the win in her hands. Throughout the first half of the marathon, the gap between those two remained more or less the same before Luxford slowed down. Due to pretty warm temperatures at the Cote d’Azur, she had to let Lester go and grab the fourth IRONMAN victory of her career.

Top 5 Pro Men

1	Frederik van Lierde	BEL	8:31:31
2	Alessandro Degasperi	ITS	8:36:18
3	Denis Chevrot	FRA	8:39:42
4	Eneko Llanos	ESP	8:40:54
5	Victor del Corral	ESP	8:53:37

Top 5 Pro Women

1	Carrie Lester	AUS	9:27:53
2	Annabel Luxford	AUS	9:38:31
3	Nicole Valentine	USA	10:21:53
4	Camille Donat	FRA	10:29:22
5	Sarah Jarvis	DEU	10:37:56

Ironman 70.3 Calgary

Josh Amberger (AUS) was untouchable in Western Canada on Sunday. The young Aussie had leads of over a minute after the swim and close to five minutes heading out on the run before grabbing the finish line tape nearing 10 minutes faster than his closet rival.

In the women’s race, Heather Jackson (USA) spotted the field a three-minute advantage coming out of the water but reversed that into a four-minute lead at the bike dismount line. The American ran hard and bumped the gap up to over six minutes at the end of the run to claim the title in Alberta.

Top 5 Pro Men