Joe Gambles was unbeatable once again, while Jodie Swallow led a British sweep of the podium at IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder.
Smoking Joe Gambles goes four-for-four in Boulder
Jimmy Seear (AUS) was first out of the brisk water in Boulder Reservoir with his 23:06 clocking. Seear, last week’s winner at IRONMAN 70.3 Kansas, had plenty of close company as a chase pack of seven men chased him into T1 within 12 seconds. In that pack were many of the race favorites including Kevin Collington (USA), Richie Cunningham (AUS), Paul Mathews (AUS), Tim Don (GBR), Joe Gambles (AUS) and Callum Millward (NZL).
Once the rubber hit the road, it was all Gambles as he stormed his way into the lead early. By 28 miles Gambles had a lead of over two and a half minutes on an elite chase pack of seven (Seear, Don, Millward, Collington, Bennett, Cunningham and Mathews). Entering the transition Gambles had what appeared to be a safe lead on the chase group that had swelled to ten, but were 4:09 to 4:49 behind with 13.1 miles remaining in the race.
On the run the field started to chew into the lead of a slowing Gambles, with Don being the biggest mover. Don clawed back over two minutes by the halfway point. Don’s charge stalled, though, and Gambles won for the fourth consecutive year in 3:42:13. Don (3:44:05) was next to reach the finish line 1:52 after the Gambles, while Cunningham finished off the podium with his 3:46:54 clocking.
Swallow proves too tough in Colorado
The women’s race saw 2010 IRONMAN world champion Jodie Swallow (GBR) dominate the swim as she established almost a full minute lead on her two closest rivals, Laura Bennett (USA) and another world champion, Leanda Cave (GBR). Next out of the water was Rachel Joyce (GBR), 1:57 behind.
Swallow enjoyed the lead for the first half of the bike while putting time into the entire field with the exception of Joyce. Two thirds of the way into the bike Joyce passed Swallow, while Cave and Bennett fought to keep their deficit to under four minutes. Joyce dismounted her bike first with Swallow just seconds back.
Swallow snuck out of T2 with a 5-second lead on Joyce thanks to lightning fast transition. Swallow could not shake Joyce for any significant distance as the time difference between the pair reached only 30 seconds in the early miles. Joyce managed to bring her deficit down to five seconds as the leaders started the second half of the run and looked like she may run her way past Swallow, but Swallow hung on to win in 4:07:37. Joyce followed Swallow across the finish line 1:24 later, with Cave bravely fighting it out for third with her 4:13:03 clocking.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Joe Gambles AUS 3:42:13
2 Tim Don GBR 3:44:05
3 Richie Cunningham AUS 3:46:54
4 Callum Millward NZL 3:47:23
5 Paul Matthews AUS 3:47:50
Top 5 Pro Women
1 Jodie Swallow GBR 4:07:37
2 Rachel Joyce GBR 4:09:00
3 Leanda Cave GBR 4:13:03
4 Rebekah Keat AUS 4:13:23
5 Laura Bennett USA 4:13:38