Andrew Yoder biked his way to the title, while Lauren Goss led start to finish.
Young Yoder too tough to tame in New York State
The top six men running up the beach of Jamesville Reservoir were all within 13 seconds of each other. Ben Collins (USA) lead the field with his 23:14, with Jimmy Seear (AUS), Barrett Brandon (USA), John Polson (AUS), Sam Douglas (AUS) and Andrew Yoder (USA) in his shadow.
Once on the bike, Yoder put on a cycling clinic and soloed away from the field. Upon the completion of the 56 mile ride, Yoder’s lead swelled to over four minutes on Seear and Jordon Rapp (USA), who racked their bikes in the second and third place positions. Paul Ambrose (AUS) and Cody Beals (CAN) came off the bike looking at a six-minute deficit, but still in the hunt for a possible podium placing.
Yoder, one of the strongest cyclists at the half distance, remained steady through the opening half of the run. Lionel Sanders, who was in seventh overall and 11:32 behind Yoder at the bike-end timing mat, was flying through the field making up positions on the run, while Collins was recouping some of the time he spotted Yoder on the bike.
At the end of the day, though, Yoder survived the run fireworks behind to claim his first IRONMAN 70.3 title in 3:53:53. Sanders' blistering 1:09:54 run split catapulted him to second, while Collins closed out the podium.
Goss got speed
Lauren Goss (USA) led Darbi Roberts and Brazilian Olympian Carla Moreno by 20 and 54 seconds, with Jenny Fletcher (CAN) and Miranda Tomenson (CAN) over two minutes behind.
Goss continued her race dominance on the bike thanks to a race-fastest 2:29:07 split.That left her with 3:57 and 5:27 leads over Roberts and Beth Shutt (USA) off the bike.
No one could better, let alone match, Goss’ pace on the run as she built up an insurmountable gap of over eight minutes over the first 6.5 miles. From there, Goss put her run on cruise control and motored her way to her first IRONMAN 70.3 title in 4:22:21. Roberts claimed second (4:33:01), with Shutt completing the podium (4:34:56).
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Andrew Yoder USA 0:23:26 2:07:50 1:19:29 3:53:53
2 Lionel Sanders CAN 0:26:28 2:16:27 1:09:54 3:55:43
3 Ben Collins USA 0:23:14 2:16:03 1:14:19 3:56:35
4 James Seear AUS 0:23:16 2:12:13 1:19:38 3:58:01
5 Cody Beals CAN 0:24:40 2:12:30 1:18:39 3:59:00
Top 5 Pro Women
1 Lauren Goss USA 0:25:10 2:29:07 1:24:49 4:22:21
2 Darbi Roberts USA 0:25:29 2:32:29 1:31:32 4:33:01
3 Beth Shutt USA 0:29:35 2:29:35 1:31:43 4:34:56
4 Heather Leiggi USA 0:29:14 2:34:35 1:31:34 4:39:09
5 Miranda Tomenson CAN 0:27:20 2:38:13 1:31:14 4:40:20