Hadley Crushes Los Cabos Course
Sometimes you can feel it coming. There is something in the air. The anticipation begins to brew and suddenly…you have that breakout performance that has been trapped inside of you all this time. That couldn’t describe James Hadley’s IRONMAN 70.3 Los Cabos performance any better this past weekend. The last two years have included an injury, which led to surgery and recovery, but it looks like Hadley’s not only back, he’s better than before.
Coming out of the swim first was Boulder’s Davide Giardini, 25:43, who seems to be leading the men out of the water in most of his races these days. Not surprisingly, Hadley, and Coloradans Brian Fleischmann and Leon Griffin emerged out of the water less than a minute back.
Giardini didn’t slow down after the swim as he took the front of the race by storm throughout the entire bike. Hadley, Fleischmann, and Boulder’s Chris Leiferman (who has had good results in 70.3s this year) hammered behind Giardini in the chase pack. The trio came off the bike less than two minutes down from Giardini and the chase through the hot and humid streets of Los Cabos began.
As the heat began to rise, so did the pace of Mexico’s Francisco Serrano, who turned in the fastest run split of the day, 1:19:07. Hadley was able to keep his pace going and stay within striking distance of Serrano for the rest of the run. On this day, it wouldn’t be enough, but thanks to Hadley’s third fastest run split, 1:19:07, he was able to claim second place in a time of 4:03:45, a minute and a second off former Olympian Serrano’s winning time, 4:02:46.
Regardless of the difference between first and second place, Hadley finally unleashed the talent and hard work that has been building since his knee surgery last year and we can’t wait to see what he does in IRONMAN 70.3 Austin next weekend.
The rest of the Colorado men finished strong, with Leiferman coming in fourth place (4:08:15), Giardini in eighth place (4:12:17), Patrick Evoe in 10th (4:16:05), and Fleischmann finishing 13th (4:24:53).
Evoe said, “I always enjoy racing in Mexico and I would definitely come back to this race again in an instance. This course was fun and honest!”
In all honesty, I think our pro men represented Colorado well and I know they enjoyed not only the course, but time hanging out with each other post-race. Well done, guys!
Metzler, Smith Take on Miami
Not too many of our pros ventured down to IRONMAN 70.3 Miami to race, but I think everyone in Colorado heard that biking phenom Andrew Starykowicz broke the record for the fastest bike split—ever—in an IRONMAN 70.3 event with the time of 1:56:11. Okay, so Starykowicz isn’t a Colorado pro, but I cannot ignore triathlon greatness no matter where they live. “Starky” wasn’t able to hold on for the win and took second place to Michael Raelert with Santiago Ascenco rounding out the third and final spot on the podium.
Cracking the top 10 was Boulder’s Justin Metzler, which is very impressive in what was a large, talented field of pros. Metzler turned in a solid day with a swim of 22:40, a bike of 2:06:52, and a run of 1:25:14 for a finishing time of 3:57:26. Great job, Justin!
On the women’s side, Colorado’s speedy Lesley Smith just missed the podium, but still turned in an impressive fourth place finish in a time of 4:20:02. Smith, who is known for her pace on the run, turned in the fastest run split of the day in 1:24:25. We’re not sure if Smith is going to defend her title in Austin next weekend, but if she is, we wish her the best of luck!
Up next: Island House, Austin 70.3, Challenge Ixtapa, IRONMAN Florida, and the XTERRA World Championships. Good luck to everyone racing!
