O’Donnell Third, Potts Fourth, Butterfield Fifth at IRONMAN World Championship; Joyce and Blatchford Take Second, Third in Women’s Race

O’Donnell Third, Potts Fourth, Butterfield Fifth at IRONMAN World Championship; Joyce and Blatchford Take Second, Third in Women’s Race

Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – It was a brutally hot day for the world championship in Kona this year. Although it is normally hot, this year’s combination of heat and humidity after Kona’s hottest summer on record took its toll on many of the athletes including several seasoned pros.

Top Ten Men
Top Ten Men

Colorado Springs’ Andy Potts had a great 50:56 swim and was third out of the water. Ben Hoffman, Tyler Butterfield, and Tim O’Donnell came out right together at 52 and a half minutes. Boulder’s Jodie Swallow (representing GBR) was the first woman out of the water in 55:04 while Boulder’s Rachel Joyce (GBR), Boulder’s Liz Blatchford (GBR), Superior’s Mary Beth Ellis, and Boulder’s Dede Griesbauer were close behind past the 56 minute mark. Defending champion Mirinda Carfrae (Boulder, AUS), not known for being the fastest swimmer, arrived at 61 minutes and got out of T1 six minutes behind the main group.

That main group of women would still be right together after the two loops in town as they hauled up the Palani hill towards the Queen K Highway. By mile 8 of the bike eventual women’s winner Daniela Ryf (Switzerland) had taken the lead but Joyce, Blatchford, Ellis and Swallow were still in the chase group. When the women got to the turn-around at Hawi, Ryf had increased her lead and Joyce, her closest pursuer, started to slip back. Sadly, at about that same point Carfrae was suffering from muscle spasms due to two bike wrecks earlier in the week and decided she was not able to continue.

Top Ten Women
Top Ten Women

The men’s bike leg was quite an exciting race as the lead changed hands several times. Once the leaders got out onto the Queen K Potts was in second position. About 50 miles into the ride Boulder’s Ben Hoffman, Grand Junction native and second place finisher last year, took the lead. Tyler Butterfield (Boulder, representing Bermuda), Potts, and O’Donnell were right in the chase group, too. Then just after Hawi, O’Donnell surged and took the lead.

By T2, however, men’s winner Jan Frodeno had taken the lead. O’Donnell put up a hell of a fight for the entire marathon, though, and Frodeno credited him at the finish line for pushing so hard and getting so close during the ‘Energy Lab’ section of the run leg and “chasing him the whole way.” That effort took its toll, however, and Andreas Raelert of Germany overtook him for second place on the way back to Kailua town. So he would have to settle for third. Potts, who actually clocked a faster run split than O’Donnell came in fourth for a repeat of last year. Tyler Butterfield had the race of his life with his fifth place finish, having never won an IRONMAN or even a half.

Rachel Joyce came out of T2 looking extremely strong, but Ryf had built a good lead and pulled farther ahead, so Joyce would have to settle for second place again this year. Blatchford stayed rock-solid and steady and was able to repeat her 2013 third-place performance. Mary Beth Ellis and Jodie Swallow were duking it out for third place on the run for a while, but Swallow would eventually pull out and Mary Beth faded in the heat but suffered through and stuck it out for a 13th place.

Colorado’s top age-grouper was the 23-year-old phenom out of Ft. Collins, Steve Mantell, with an amazing 9:05:02, besting many in the pro field. Four-time Olympic marathoner Colleen De Reuck resoundingly won the women’s 50-54 age-group by 14 minutes with a 10:30:41 and was Colorado’s top age-group woman.

Colorado Results

FName LName Div City Time Swim T1 Bike T2 Run
Timothy O’Donnell MPRO Boulder 08:18:50 0:52:24 2:01 4:26:13 2:27 2:55:46
Andy Potts MPRO Colorado Springs 08:21:25 0:50:56 1:44 4:32:42 2:20 2:53:46
Tyler Butterfield MPRO Boulder 08:23:09 0:52:33 2:01 4:29:36 2:41 2:56:20
Steve Mantell M18-24 Fort Collins 09:05:02 0:57:51 3:29 4:54:32 4:32 3:04:40
Ben Hoffman MPRO Boulder 09:05:22 0:52:29 1:54 4:28:51 2:36 3:39:34
Rachel Joyce WPRO Boulder 09:10:59 0:56:11 2:16 5:01:29 2:22 3:08:43
Justin Daerr MPRO Boulder 09:13:58 0:56:55 2:09 4:52:18 3:09 3:19:31
Liz Blatchford WPRO Boulder 09:14:52 0:56:13 2:07 5:07:25 2:42 3:06:25
Tripp Hipple M25-29 Denver 09:19:25 0:57:36 2:05 4:50:57 3:03 3:25:46
Ivan O’Gorman M35-39 Colorado 09:22:09 1:13:39 4:18 4:54:41 3:41 3:05:50
Mary Beth Ellis WPRO Superior 09:33:34 0:56:16 2:01 4:59:29 2:13 3:33:38
Sam Long M18-24 Boulder 09:50:30 1:05:52 2:03 4:47:35 2:24 3:52:38
Curt Chesney M45-49 Boulder 09:57:59 1:02:20 2:37 4:54:30 5:02 3:53:31
Brent Phinney M35-39 Windsor 10:04:11 1:03:15 5:32 5:12:51 6:42 3:35:54
Matt Chrabot MPRO Lafayette 10:07:02 1:01:04 2:52 4:53:23 4:20 4:05:25
Dede Griesbauer WPRO Boulder 10:09:49 0:56:39 2:26 5:11:08 3:03 3:56:34
Scott Jones M50-54 Boulder 10:17:23 1:01:40 3:53 5:22:56 5:35 3:43:20
Matt Britton M30-34 Loveland 10:23:54 1:11:36 4:45 5:08:44 3:38 3:55:14
Samuel Johnmeyer M25-29 Denver 10:25:05 1:12:58 4:53 5:36:31 4:15 3:26:30
Colleen De Reuck F50-54 Boulder 10:30:41 1:09:33 4:20 5:53:14 4:26 3:19:09
Rafael Ribeiro Goncalves M35-39 Boulder 10:30:50 0:51:21 2:43 5:23:03 4:39 4:09:04
Rob Gray M35-39 Boulder 10:31:26 1:04:49 3:24 4:57:56 3:11 4:22:08
Bob McRae M45-49 Arvada 10:32:00 1:13:41 5:46 5:13:10 6:01 3:53:23
Eric Walker M40-44 Greeley 10:38:55 1:13:54 4:50 5:40:00 5:48 3:34:25
Mikhail Ivanov M35-39 Niwot 10:43:05 1:10:33 4:29 5:40:55 2:56 3:44:13
Marc Middlekauff M40-44 Denver 11:07:15 1:17:57 5:22 5:47:37 6:13 3:50:09
Darren De Reuck M50-54 Boulder 11:10:50 1:15:38 4:17 5:24:15 5:05 4:21:37
Bryan Vanmeveren M50-54 Fort Collins 11:13:40 1:13:55 7:06 5:15:48 5:45 4:31:09
Monica Folts F25-29 Golden 11:14:41 1:14:16 3:45 6:01:06 5:56 3:49:41
Mike Orr M60-64 Boulder 11:18:54 1:10:33 6:01 5:28:34 5:08 4:28:39
Terrance Ramirez M50-54 Westminster 11:27:11 1:14:16 7:04 5:47:29 6:46 4:11:39
Ellen Hart F55-59 Denver 11:27:29 1:22:54 4:45 6:00:29 4:50 3:54:34
Jari Kirkland F35-39 Crested Butte 11:32:51 1:08:48 4:32 6:11:02 4:13 4:04:18
Iain Campbell M50-54 Boulder 11:38:21 1:13:56 5:17 6:03:15 5:33 4:10:22
Alex Holderness M45-49 Denver 11:58:18 1:03:56 5:03 6:22:28 3:55 4:22:57
William P Ankele Jr M60-64 Denver 11:59:18 1:14:57 7:16 6:02:47 8:57 4:25:23
Mark Williams M35-39 Aurora 12:10:54 1:06:04 6:27 7:00:22 8:02 3:50:00
Stacia Wilkins F45-49 Castle Rock 12:13:25 1:18:56 4:08 6:16:58 5:15 4:28:10
Melinda Nagle F45-49 Aspen 12:15:45 1:11:16 5:45 6:15:47 6:38 4:36:21
Amy Mosser Romero F40-44 Denver 12:20:43 1:15:07 3:47 6:41:23 6:32 4:13:56
Emily Wasserman F30-34 Denver 12:32:49 1:21:35 4:37 6:35:54 6:10 4:24:35
Diana Hassel F45-49 Fort Collins 12:35:17 1:09:08 3:02 5:28:26 4:39 5:50:03
Traci Winterbotton F50-54 Colorado Springs 12:45:02 1:16:21 3:45 6:34:03 4:21 4:46:33
John Bergeron M55-59 Aurora 12:47:46 1:14:00 6:11 6:27:22 6:16 4:53:59
Rafael Pacheco M50-54 Denver 12:55:28 1:14:06 7:25 6:20:57 10:37 5:02:25
Nate Kvamme M40-44 Denver 13:05:20 1:34:06 12:18 6:17:07 21:10 4:40:40
Guy Sigley M55-59 Highlands Ranch 13:11:28 1:21:25 5:42 5:57:53 6:49 5:39:40
Mark Sanderson M60-64 Colorado Springs 13:54:50 1:14:29 5:44 6:51:55 8:34 5:34:10
Laura Baugh F35-39 Colorado Springs 14:21:55 1:44:33 5:12 6:41:12 9:05 5:41:56
Tim Colleran M60-64 Denver 14:35:29 1:28:16 9:52 6:45:33 15:16 5:56:34
Anna Grunwald F55-59 Louisville 14:54:47 1:25:16 8:36 7:24:01 10:17 5:46:39
Andrew Mertens M25-29 Denver 14:55:18 1:02:38 6:11 7:19:35 13:05 6:13:52
Khem Suthiwan F35-39 Denver 14:55:54 1:40:03 7:17 7:42:18 7:10 5:19:08
Gary Holt M40-44 Highlands Ranch 15:13:29 1:24:50 4:52 6:54:27 6:07 6:43:15
Rob Ladewig M65-69 Colorado Springs 15:37:28 1:36:54 10:01 7:22:12 10:30 6:17:53
Reynold Kalstrom M70-74 Littleton 15:44:23 1:16:40 7:40 7:35:09 12:25 6:32:31
Richard Byyny M40-44 Denver 15:48:52 1:04:51 4:39 5:47:12 8:35 8:43:38
Chris McKelvey F55-59 Carbondale 16:18:14 1:29:49 6:57 7:42:35 12:51 6:46:04
Sandi Wiebe F65-69 Boulder 16:31:29 1:31:55 6:47 7:29:40 12:55 7:10:14

Kristen McFarland

Kristen McFarland is an editor-at-large for Colorado Triathlete. As an athletic trainer and massage therapist, she works with professional triathletes in Boulder that have included both ITU and IRONMAN world champions.