Brent McMahon and Lauren Barnett master the course and their competition at the 2014 intermedix IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta.
Crazy Canuck just too fast
Brent McMahon (CAN) was the class of the field, exiting the water of the Savanah River and scrambling his way up the boat ramp at the Augusta Rowing Complex in 18:55. Viktor Zyemtsev (UKR), Justin Metzler (USA), Jacob Rhyner (USA) and Justin Park (USA) emerged from mild current 1:04 to 1:46 after of the leader.
McMahon continued to build upon his lead throughout the bike and his race-best bike split of 2:07:07 brought him to transition carrying leads of 5:39 to 5:45 on Zyemtsev, Park and Metzler. The remainder of the field was at least 11 minutes behind and out of contention for the podium
With a comfortable buffer the Canadian still elected to run hard. With each passing mile McMahon stretched out his lead, while Zyemtsev and Park were left to duke it out for second. McMahon’s blistering 1:13:40 run time netted he Olympian the win in 3:43:03. Over seven minutes later Zyemtsev prevailed in the battle for second by besting Park by 29 seconds.
Barnett claims second title of 2014
Not surprisingly, Haley Chura (USA) put on a swim clinic to register a 19:32 finish time. Christina Jackson (USA) and Lauren Barnett (USA) were both happy to have kept the damage to two minutes as the pair ran into T1.
Once on the bike Barnett chipped away at Chura’s advantage and took the lead shortly before the completion of the first lap of the bike. From there Barnett pulled away from the field and dismounted her bike with advantages of 3:15 to 5:23 on Chura, Tamara Kozulina (UKR) and Sue Huse (CAN).
Barnett then used the fastest run of the day to capture her second IRONMAN 70.3 title in her first year of racing as a professional, stopping the clock at 4:11:33. Huse was next to cross the finish line in 4:18:44, while Chura closed out the podium in 4:19:02.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Brent McMahon CAN 3:43:03
2 Viktor Zyemtsev UKR 3:50:27
3 Justin Park USA 3:50:56
4 Justin Metzler USA 3:52:08
5 Benson Hall USA 4:05:09
Top 5 Pro Women
1 Lauren Barnett USA 4:11:33
2 Sue Huse CAN 4:18:44
3 Haley Chura USA 4:19:02
4 Tamara Kozulina UKR 4:23:39
5 Molly Roohi USA 4:26:25