Canada’s Paula Findlay appears to have bounced back from the injuries that sidelined her for much of the fall, taking a big win today at Ironman 70.3 Oceanside thanks to a dominant bike ride and solid efforts in the water and on the run. The Canadian managed to hold off the fast-running pair of Emma Pallant-Browne (GBR) and Jeanni Metzler (RSA) for the win.
It was Guam’s Manami Iijima who led the way out of the water with Metzler on her heels and Findlay just 25 seconds back. Pallant-Browne hit T1 1:34 behind the leader, while three-time Australian Kona champ Mirinda Carfrae continued her comeback after delivering her second child earlier this year just over four minutes behind as she started the bike.
Findlay, who is recovering from a stress fracture that kept her from running but allowed her to put in some solid bike training, quickly pulled clear of the rest of the field on the bike. Two-thirds of the way through the 90 km bike she was over four minutes ahead of Metzler and Pallant-Browne and would stretch that lead to over six minutes by the end of the ride.
Pallant-Browne would make a charge off the bike, but was only able to gain about 2:30 through the first half of the run. Through 13 km Findlay was still over three minutes ahead of the Brit, while Metzler remained over six minutes down in third. Findlay would hang tough right to the line, taking the win in 4:14:05, just over two minutes ahead of Pallant (4:16:16) with Metzler rounding out the podium in 4:20:53.
