It was Jimmy Seear and Ruth Brennan Morrey who followed the yellow brick road to their first IRONMAN 70.3 wins.
Seear shows heart on the run
David Kahn (USA) was first to scamper up the boat ramp of Clinton Lake in the men’s race, with Todd Skipworth (AUS), Jimmy Seear (AUS) and Joe Umphenour (USA) just seconds back.
TJ Tollakson (USA) worked his way towards the front of the race as the bike reached the halfway point with Skipworth, Seear and Umphenour making up a lead pack of riders who were distancing themselves from the rest of the field. A late surge by Tollakson netted him a two minute lead on Seear and 3:25 on Skipworth, who reached T2 in second and third.
Within the first three miles, Seear took the lead from Tollakson and was a minute ahead. Skipworth was finding his groove on the run and worked his way into second and started chewing into Seear’s lead. Skipworth ran out of road as Seear won the race with his 3:52:18 finish time. Clocking a 3:53:30, Skipworth snagged a well-deserved second, while Umphenour worked his way back to capture the final podium spot, stopping the clock at 3:55:33.
Brennan Morrey in a shocker
Super-swimmer Amanda Stevens (USA) once again led the women’s field out of the water with her 24:47 swim time. Tami Ritchie (USA), Rachel Joyce (GBR) and Katy Blakemore (USA) followed the leader into T1, 15 to 43 seconds behind the leader.
Stevens stayed in front for much of the 56 mile ride, but surrendered the lead to Joyce and succumbed to a hard charging Ruth Brennan Morrey (USA) in the late miles of the bike. Joyce carried a 16-second lead on Morrey and 1:39 on Stevens as the race reached T2.
In shocking turn of events, Morrey grabbed the lead from Joyce, the runner-up at last year's IRONMAN World Championship, as soon as the women hit the run. Morrey, who has a 2:48 standalone marathon P.R. to her credit, started to run away from Joyce and built up a 1:14 advantage after the completion of 6.5 miles. Joyce started to slowly close the gap over the closing miles, but stalled near the end of the run. Morrey, 38, ran her way to her first IRONMAN 70.3 win in 4:13:47. Morrey, a mother of three, has a PHD in psychology. She beat Joyce by 57 seconds and was 2:24 ahead of Lauren Barnett, who grabbed the final podium spot.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Jimmy Seear AUS 3:52:18
2 Todd Skipworth AUS 3:53:30
3 Joe Umphenour USA 3:55:33
4 Robbie Wade IRN 3:55:44
5 Tj Tollakson USA 3:56:24
Top 5 Pro Women
1 Ruth Brennan Morrey USA 4:13:47
2 Rachel Joyce GBR 4:14:44
3 Lauren Barnett USA 4:16:10
4 Laura Siddall GBR 4:18:06
5 Amanda Stevens USA 4:27:16