It was a day for former World Triathlon draft-legal racers at Ironman 70.3 Cozumel today as Mexico’s Cecelia Perez took a home-country win on the beautiful tourist destination of Cozumel today, while Argentina’s Luciano Taccone took the men’s title.
It was Switzerland’s Andrea Salvisberg who led a group of four men out of the water, with Taccone part of a chase group of eight about a minute behind. By the halfway point of the bike a group of eight formed at the front led by Nicholas Chase, with Taccone and Salvisberg still in the mix. The group spread out a bit by the end of the ride, but only 35 seconds separated them as Salvisberg led into T2 with Taccone right behind. Taccone proceeded to run his way to the win (3:54:36), while Salvisberg would fade to fourth (4:02:26) as Belgium’s Emmanuel Lejeune ran his way to second (3:58:09) with Brazil’s Fernando Toldi rounding out the podium (4:00:31).
In the women’s race Perez led the way out of the water with countrywoman M.C.E. Castillo on her feet and a minute ahead of American Lesley Smith. Smith would ride her way up to the front of the race on the bike, but wasn’t able to drop Perez, who was just a few seconds back at T2. Argentina’s Romina Palacio was almost 10 minutes behind the pair in third coming off the bike. Out on the run Perez pulled clear of the American and would take the win in 4:24:46 with Smith crossing the line just over four minutes later (4:28:55). Palacio rounded out the podium in 4:39:13.
