In the men’s race it appeared that Felipe Van de Wyngard (CHL) would capture his first IRONMAN 70.3 title in Florida if he could hold off the challenges being thrown at him by TJ Tollakson (USA). The Chilean exited the water with a 7- second advantage on Tollakson and couldn’t shake the American for the entire 56 miles on the bike. Van de Wyngard would hit the run with a leading gap of 50 seconds, bumping that up to two minutes for the early miles of the run. With two miles to go, Van de Wyngard’s lead was at a minute when the wheels fell off his race. Tollakson was quick to pounce on the situation and made the pass for the lead with a mile to go and onto the win.
In the women’s race, Lauren Brandon (USA) put on her usual swim clinic in the water for a 2:37 advantage on Carrie Lester heading into T1. Lester managed to limit her swim losses on the bike and hit the dismount line just seconds back of the leader. Powering her way into the lead in the opening mile of the run, Lester would run away from the field to grab the victory by a 10:31 winning margin on her closest rival.
Men's Podium
1 Tollakson, TJ USA 3:54:19
2 Van de Wyngard, Felipe CHL 3:55:25
3 Jarrige, Yvan FRA 3:56:29
Women's Podium
1 Lester, Carrie USA 4:15:57
2 Barandon, Lauren USA 4:26:28
3 Mathews, Laura USA 4:28:54