Pro Photo Gallery: A Scorcher at IRONMAN 70.3 Louisville

Jason West wins IRONMAN 70.3 Louisville.

We had to come out east for a couple of other races, so we took the chance to swing on into Louisville, KY for the second year of the IRONMAN 70.3 race. (This is the first year IRONMAN included a professional race in Louisville.) Just under 1300 athletes registered for the event with 628 men and 268 women completing the course. There were also some relays as well.

There were 34 men and 18 women who started the pro race, and all but two finished. This was my first time to Louisville for the race. I stayed with Ben Kanute and Jason West just over the river in New Albany, IN. At first, when I booked our Airbnb, I was a little worried we were going to be in CST instead EST like the race. Luckily a little google search taught me we were going to be just fine. I think it took Ben until Sunday to figure out we were staying in another state.

Leading up to the race it was HOT, and the forecast didn’t show anything but HOT. Heat prep was the talk of the town and I have to give credit to IRONMAN on this one they took it very seriously with their friends at the Louisville commission and they seemed to have all their boxes checked.

We all learned about the “cooling stations” at the pro meeting. These included buses running air conditioning where people could hop in, get their shi@#$ together, then hop back out on the course without any penalty. Jason mentioned after the race he really thought about taking advantage of one of them on the run.

Anyways onto some photos

Let’s dive into the women’s gallery first.

Jackie Hering would excites the 86-degree water just behind 3 others.

Meghan Dirito was all smiles at the start of the bike

Chloe Coronado Winn would slowly move her way up to ninth overall on the day, then staying pretty steady on the run.

Dominikia Jamnikcy would have the second fastest swim of the day and stay in the mix with the leaders until the end.

Jeanni Metzler was fastest in the swim and rode with the lead group of four all day.

Jackie Hering would end up with the 2nd fastest bike split, clocking a 2:21:12.

Posting the fastest bike split (2:20:56), Gabrielle Lumkes would start the run just behind a group of three.

The leaders early in the run.

Once past the mile 1 aid station, Jackie Hering went to work on the group and started hunting down the men.

Jackie Hering Wins in 4:16:26

Swim: 24:28

Bike: 2:21:12

Run: 1:24:05

Gabrielle Lumkes Takes Second in 4:24:15

Swim: 24:25

Bike: 2:20:56

Run: 1:31:56

Jeanni Metzler Finishes Third in 4:25:07

Swim: 24:17

Bike: 2:21:27

Run: 1:32:53

On to the mens race

Because of the nature of this course I wasn’t able to get as many shots of the men as with the women because I waited on the women and then moved through the field.

Ben Kanute would lead from the swim until about mile three of the run.

Jason West was right behind him out of the water.

Trevor Foley exits the swim and wants to forget that 86 degree water bath.

Matt Kerr would power his way from ninth out of the water to third off the bike. He would end up sixth on the day.

Jason West would come into T2 about 6:41 down from the lead. He said later in the day that he was dealing with some odd pains in his left leg when he was pushing on the pedals. He held higher watts at IRONMAN Lake Placid than he did today.

In good old “Trevor Foley fashion” he road hard, putting a lot of time on the rest of the field by posting the fastest bike time of 2:00:05

Ben Kanute played the game of “smash” from the start. He would end up paying for it a little later on the run.

Big Metz (Justin Metzler) would have a very frustrating day, finishing 13th, 17mins behind the lead.

Mile five, just after being passed by Jason West, Ben Kanute would go through a couple of rough miles before bouncing back a little and holding on to third place.

Trevor Foley looking back to see if anyone was coming for him sitting in 2nd place.

Jason West would end up running a 1:11:21 on a hilly, hot and somewhat disorganized run course,. proving once again that it’s never over until it’s over.

Jason West wins in 3:46:03

Swim: 21:39

Bike: 2:07:20

Run: 1:11:21

Trevor Foley finishes second in 3:47:39

Swim: 24:12

Bike: 2:00:05

Run: 1:17:45

Ben Kanute finishes third in 3:49:24

Swim: 21:33

Bike: 2:00:40

Run: 1:21:22

Fighting ‘Till the End

She was in the mix all day but, in the end, Dominika Jamnicky would be unable to close the three second gap to third place after Jeanni Metzler would rebound in the last mile.

Matt Mcwilliams would end up having the third fastest bike (2:04:14) and second fastest run (1:14:58), just missing the podium by 22 seconds.

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