Like last year, Trevor Foley won Ironman 70.3 Maine again today. Among the women, the win went to Sarah True: thus, the race has two American winners.
When Foley exited the water in nineteenth place – almost three minutes behind fastest swimmer Nicholas Quenet – it did not seem as though he would have any claim to victory. On the bike, however, he showed no hesitation, pushed to his maximum and within thirty kilometers he already moved up to fourth position and his gap was down to fifty seconds.
That gap was then quickly closed and after 50 kilometers on the bike he had turned his gap into a lead of almost a minute. That lead only increased and by now had more than doubled in T2. Of course, there was still 21 kilometers to run, but his lead was nowhere in danger anymore.
Foley won the race in 3:39:27, while American Matt McElroy finished second in 3:42:52. New Zealander Sam Osborne was third in 3:44:39.
For Sarah True, who won the women’s race, the race began more energetically. Rachel Olson and Hanne de Vet swam the fastest, but Cecila Perez and True came out of the water a handful of seconds behind them. Still, that did not immediately mean a good position on the bike, because there it was Belgium’s De Vet who simply proved inimitable and gave no one a chance to ride with her. When De Vet put her bike away again in T2, her lead had increased to nearly three minutes on True.
However, De Vet appeared to gave it a bit too much and lost her lead quite quickly during the run. Already after ten kilometers, True had approached to only twenty seconds and pretty soon after that she took over the lead in the race. This immediately decided the race, although Jeanni Metzler came dangerously close in the closing stages.
True won the race in 4:12:01, Metzler was second in 4:12:42 and De Vet was third in 4:13:11.
