Jackson Laundry had some company off the bike in the form of American Nicholas Chase, but once out on the run course the Canadian was simply too good as he ran his way to a big win at Ironman 70.3 Ecuador today.
Ecuador’s own Armando Matute led the way out of the water with solo effort that saw him hit T1 with a lead of about 90 seconds on a group of eight that included Laundry and Chase. By the halfway point of the bike Laundry and Chase were clear of the rest of the field, enjoying a lead of 45 seconds on Brazil’s Fernando Toldi and Santiago Ascenco, with Chile’s Nicolas Saez 1:10 behind. By the time the North American duo hit T2 Laundry had managed to open up a seven second gap on Chase, 1:36 on Ascenco and 2:06 on Toldi.
Out on the run course Laundry kept piling on the pressure on the rest of the field and was 2:07 up on Chase through the halfway point of the run, with Toldi five minutes down in third. By the time he hit the finish line, Laundry (3:53:56) was 6:26 ahead of Chase (4:00:22) and 8:26 ahead of Toldi (4:02:22). Ascenco hung tough for fourth (4:03:13) with Frank Silvestrin Souza (BRA) rounding out the top five (4:07:51).
