Running legs powered home Mexico’s Mauricio Mendez and Aussie-based Czech Republic star Radka Kahlefeldt to win the IRONMAN 70.3 Asia Pacific Championship titles in Cebu, Philippines.
Mendez pushed through from seventh off the bike with his 1:13:38 paving the way for an emphatic victory against a stellar field in 3:46:45. His sixth career win followed a victory at the nearby island of Davao earlier this year, giving Mendez a taste of the humid temperatures.
There was little separating a pack out of the swim, with the flat and super-fast bike course unable to shake loose a 13-strong pack until former pro rider Tyler Butterfield and super-strong Luke McKenzie persevered over the final 25 k. That enabled a group of seven riders to establish a handy advantage.
Butterfield from Bermuda pushed ahead first on the run, before IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Champion Braden Currie made his move. Mendez bided his time, taking the lead mid-run, scorching away with the day’s best run. Butterfield and Currie held on while former world champions Tim Reed and Craig Alexander pushed up late on the run.
The women’s race proved the opposite with American Lauren Brandon’s 24:39 swim the best of all competitors opening a 3 minute buffer on Radka Kahlefeldt, 3:35 on Caroline Steffen, and 5:40 on Melissa Hauschildt, all pre-race favorites. She held that advantage until the final 10 k on the bike when Kahlefeldt, on the back of the day's best bike (2:16), closed it to just 13 seconds; Hauschildt closed to 1:10, while a late puncture pushed Steffen back to over 3 minutes in arrears.
Kahlefeldt headed straight for the lead on the run with her 1:21 half marathon making the difference in her third victory since her comeback after the birth of her daughter. American Lauren Goss hung in strongly for much of the race, but she did not realize she had incurred a blocking penalty on the bike and was later disqualified. That elevated Steffen to second while Hauschildt, who made ground early on the fun before running out of fuel, held on for third, but both were a distance from the winner.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Mendez, Mauricio MEX 3:46:45
2 Butterfield, Tyler BMU 3:47:39
3 Currie, Braden NZL 3:48:12
4 Reed, Tim AUS 3:52:51
5 Alexander, Craig AUS 3:54:09
Top 5 Pro Women
1 Kahlefeldt, Radka CZE 4:12:13
2 Steffen, Caroline CHE 4:21:46
3 Hauschildt, Melissa AUS 4:22:50
4 McKenzie, Beth USA 4:31:03
5 Brandon, Lauren USA 4:32:20