By Shawn Skene
IRONMAN.com
August 5, 2012 (Boulder, CO) — After 11-years and 74 ITU events, aspiring Olympian Liz Blatchford’s recent change of race focus to 5150, IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 circuits was rewarded with the women’s title at IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder. A controlled and dominating race by the Joe Gambles netted him another title.
Fleischmann shows the way
Speedy swimmer Brian Fleischmann led the men’s race out of the water in a time of 23:24. The American was followed up the swim finishing chute at the Boulder Reservoir by a chase pack of nine, all within forty seconds of the lead that contained Joe Umphenour (USA), Dylan McNeice (USA), Bryan Rhodes (NZL), Matty Reed (AUS), Gavin Anderson (USA), Michael Fox (AUS), Gambles (AUS) and Alex Reithmeier (AUS). Contenders Leon Griffin ((AUS), Ben Hoffman (AUS) and Santiago Ascenco (BRA) found themselves 1:22 to 1:28 in arrears of Fleischman.
Gambles off the bike in lead
At the completion of the 56-mile bike, Gambles’ race-best bike split of 2:00:21 helped established a 3:38 to 3:48 lead over chase pack of four comprised of Griffin, Josh Rix (AUS), Hoffman and Ascenco.
Gamble cruises – Jones a missile on the run
Once on the run, the 3:38 advantage Gambles had built up afforded him the luxury of placing his race on cruise control and let the fireworks go off behind him as the remainder of the field fought it out for the two remaining podium positions. American Jordan Jones lit up the run course in Boulder, though. Jones, the 2012 Kansas City and New York City 5150 champion came off the bike in twelfth place and 5:58 off Gambles’ lead. Jones’ race-day run split of 1:15:12 helped him pass some pretty elite running company – Hoffman, Reed, Umphenour, Ascenco and Griffin – into second place.
Gambles ran a respectable 1:17:33 to handily capture the 2012 IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder title in 3:44:04. Jones ended up finishing in 3:47:41, while Hoffman’s solid performance all day helped him complete the podium thanks to his 3:48:22 finishing time.
Blatchford starts strong
A pair Brits exited the 1.2-mile, counter-clockwise, swim first in the women’s race. Blatchford finished in 26:23 while Leanda Cave followed Blatchford into transition nine seconds back. We would have expected TenilleHoogland to be up with leaders, but the Canadian did not start the race due to injuries sustained as a result of being blown off her bike during prerace course ride on Thursday.
Blatchford and Cave built up sizable lead over Madeleine Oldfield, who was 2:25 back, while the remaining top ten women included Mandy McLean (USA), Christine Anderson (USA), Jeanni Seymour (USA), Melanie McQuaid (CAN), Terra Castro (USA), Whitney Garcia and the reigning IRONMAN 70.3 world champion, Melissa Hauschildt-Rollinson (AUS), who were 2:30 to 3:50 behind the leaders.
Top three women way off the front
Appearing to have overcome all her 2012 injury and illness hardships, Cave pounded out a 1:37 lead over Blatchford by the conclusion of the bike while recording the second best bike split on the day. Hauschildt-Rollinson had moved her way from tenth to third, but only managed to claw back 20 seconds of her swim deficit and was still 3:28 behind the leader. The rest of the field was well off the leading trio’s pace.
Drama on the run
Blatchford, who was within a breath of being selected to for the British Olympic team in June, put her short-course speed to good use once the run commenced. Her torrid pace propelled her to a 45-second lead before the completion of the first of two laps of the run, with Cave running second. Hauschildt-Rollinson’s patented come-from-behind style of racing was prevalent once again as she moved herself to within 30-seconds of Cave – and 1:15 out of the lead – at the halfway point of the run, running a full minute faster than the Blatchford’s quick pace.
Hauschildt-Rollinson’s charge to the front stalled out over last half of the run, though. It was Blatchford’s fastest run split of the day that garnered the 32-year-old her first IRONMAN 70.3 title in 4:07:48. Hauschildt-Rollinson placed second in 4:09:44 on the strength of her run that was only one second off Blatchford’s, which must be a comfort to the world champion that her injury issues might be behind her. Cave faded a slightly on the run but still managed to finished third in a time of 4:10:55.
—IRONMAN.com
Women
1. Liz Blatchford, 4:07:48
2. Melissa Hauschildt, 4:09:44
3. Leanda Cave, 4:10:55
4. Elizabeth Lyles, 4:20:52
5. Katy Blakemore, 4:22:02
6. Uli Bromme, 4:24:21
7. Whitney Garcia, 4:25:45
8. Mandy McLane, 4:26:18
9. Danielle Kehoe, 4:29:45
10. Madeline Oldfield, 4:31:43
11. Christine Anderson, 4:33:28
12. Trish Deim, 4:33:43
13. Jeanni Seymour, 4:38:19
14. Sonja Wieck, 4:38:19
15. Terra Castro, 4:40:38
Men
1. Joe Gambles, 3:44:04
2. Jordan Jones, 3:47:41
3. Ben Hoffman, 3:48:22
4. Joe Umphenour, 3:40:10
5. Santiago Ascenco, 3:50:49
6. Leon Griffin, 3:52:09
7. Matty Reed, 3:53:19
8. Marcus Fernandes, 3:53:44
9. Josh Rix, 3:55:44
10. Brian Fleischmann, 3:56:38
11. Bryan Rhodes, 3:56:54
12. Mario De Elias, 3:58:31
13. Michael Fox, 4:04:57
14. Ryan Rau, 4:05:50
15. Mark Hillers, 4:06:46
