It was the athletes who usually specialize more in the short distance who won at Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells this weekend: Morgan Pearson and Claire Michel. Both athletes decided the race during the final half marathon. For Michel, it also immediately means the end of her career as a professional athlete.
Michel was immediately well into the race, but was still surrounded by Rachel Zilinskas and Erika Ackerlund during the swim: together with the two American women, Michel came out of the water in a time of 25:33 and was then heading to her bike. There the Belgian athlete almost immediately took the lead in the race.
Her lead was very minimal, however, and even though at first it looked very briefly like Michel would take the lead solo, that did not happen. Zilinskas and Ackerlund stuck with the Belgian athlete, and from behind, Britain’s Stephanie Clutterbuck also closed in. Immediately, it also seemed these four women would ride together to T2, but in the closing stages of the bike leg, Michel and Ackerlund lost just over half a minute on Clutterbuck and Zilinskas.
During the run, however, there was no doubt anymore: Michel was overwhelmingly the strongest. Already in the first kilometers she ran back to the front, took over the lead and she would not relinquish that lead again. Her lead constantly increased and in the end Michel triumphed with a comfortable lead.
Michel won the race in 4:10:59. Ackerlund was second in 4:14:12 and American Annamarie Strehlow, who ran to the front, was third in 4:17:26.
Pearson also started the men’s race energetically and, in a large lead group, came out of the water at the front. That lead group dwindled on the bike, however, and in the end no one proved equal to Dylan Gillespie and Louis Woodgate, the two of whom managed to build a 2:30 minute lead before starting the half marathon. Pearson followed even further back, coming in eighth into T2 and then trailing by 3:13 minutes.
During the half marathon, however, Pearson ran very strongly to the front and by the halfway point had already turned his deficit into a half-minute lead. Thanks to his fast running pace (1:10:08 over 21.1 kilometers), his lead only continued to grow from then on before he won in a time of 3:42:26. Matt McElroy was second in 3:44:13 and Woodgate was third in 3:45:41.
