Where many fans had hoped for a victory for Lionel Sanders, who was back at the start of a Long Distance since a very long time, it was Trevor Foley who managed to win Ironman Lake Placid today. The American did so in a new course record. Among the women, the win went to Danielle Lewis.
That a lot can happen during a Long Distance was demonstrated when Foley came out of the water in 26th place and was 6:21 minutes behind. That put him even behind Lionel Sanders, who is also not known for a very strong swim, so from that point on there was a lot of work to do.
Still, Foley rode into the top ten fairly quickly, surrounded by Sanders, Thor Bendix Madsen, Josh Amberger and Chris Leiferman, among others, but there was no stopping Matthew Marquardt. The American rode solo to the lead and eventually returned to T2 with an 8:30 minute lead over both Sanders and Foley, who managed to break away from the group of chasers in the closing stages and enter T2 in second and third position.
During that marathon, Marquardt held on for a long time, but Foley ran a lot faster and finally caught up to him after about 34 kilometers. This allowed Foley to run to victory in a time of 7:55:23. Marquardt finished second in 7:57:14 and Sanders still took the bronze in 8:05:39.
In the women’s race, the eventual winner, Lewis thus, also had a lot to make up for after the swim. In fact, when the American came out of the water in fifteenth place, she was more than 15 minutes behind. But, like in the men’s race, Lewis began to catch up, started picking up women and making up time. Even so, victory did not look as a possibilty even in T2, when she was tenth and still trailing by nearly 11 minutes.
During the run, it was initially Rachel Zilinskas and then Sarah True who took the lead in the race, but against an unleashed Lewis they too were no match. Soon during the marathon Lewis ran to the front, although it took her more than thirty kilometers to actually take over the lead in the race. From then on, her victory was not in danger. She won the race in 9:01:54. Jackie Hering finished second in 9:06:26 and Alice Alberts third in 9:10:36.
