We Noticed: 70.3’s in Swansea and Vitoria-Gasteiz and More

It was a busy weekend of racing in Hamburg (yes, I know I haven’t got anything up on Sunday’s Paratriathlon race – photo gallery and thoughts coming tomorrow, I promise), but there were a couple of pro 70.3 races taking place here in Europe, too. IRONMAN 70.3 Swansea served as an IRONMAN Pro Series event and saw Great Britain’s Harry Palmer complete a hat-trick of wins, while Lizzie Rayner ensured there were two Brits at the top of the podium in taking the women’s win.

India Lee would lead the way out of the water and then led for much of the bike before a crash at 80 km allowed Rayner to move to the lead. Rayner was able to hold on for the win, despite the charge from France’s Anne-Sophie Pierre, who came within 15 seconds of the win. Rounding out the podium was Poland’s Marta Lagownik.

“I can’t really comprehend actually,” a thrilled Rayner said. “It feels amazing. All week I (thought) I want to win. I want to win this race, and I wanted to break the curse of Swansea that I’d put on myself … it was really really hard that last … 6 km – I was cramping really bad.”

After France’s Pierre Le Corre led the way out of the water, Germany’s Mika Noodt dominated for the first half of the bike. As with the women’s race, though, the men’s leader on the bike would crash, but unlike Lee, who would soldier on for eighth, Noodt wouldn’t be able to continue on. That meant Brit Kieran Lindars was first into T2, but Palmer was close behind and quickly took charge on the run to take his third consecutive win in Swansea. Lindars would hang on for second, with Belgium’s Joran Driesen rounding out the podium.

“The support is incredible,” Palmer said of the Welsh crowds. “I’ve never raced anywhere like it … living relatively close to here, I know what the roads are like. I train on roads like this all the time, so it allows me to navigate the course pretty well … I don’t know what it is about the Welsh support, but they just bring it to another level. It is absolutely incredible.” 

Van Coevorden and Le Mesnager victorious in Vitoria-Gasteiz

After leading the way out of the water, Australia’s Natalie Van Coevorden stayed out in front for the rest of the race to take the win at IRONMAN 70.3 Vitoria-Gasteiz. Switzerland’s Nina Derron would get to within 32 seconds by the end of the bike, but was no match for the Aussie on the run and had to settle for second ahead of France’s Jeanne Collonge, who followed up a sixth-place finish in Roth the week before to round out the podium thanks to the day’s fastest run.

France’s Damien Le Mesnager was way behind Kiwi Trent Thorpe after the swim, but the day’s fastest bike and run splits were more than enough to get him a 40-second win over the Netherlands’ Youri Keulen and Spain’s Guillem Montiel.

XTERRA South American Championship

Carlos Javier Quinchara Forero and Lirany Gómez Gutiérrez defended their XTERRA South American Championship titles on the weekend at the event in the Boyacá Andes at 2,500 m above sea level. (Breathing is highly over-rated, right?) Here’s a short recap from the folks at XTERRA:

Quinchara is unbeaten on home soil, covering the 1.5K swim, 30K mountain bike and 10K trail run in 2:06:45 for his second straight men’s title. Fellow Colombian David Guete Quintero took second in 2:13:00, completing a Colombian one-two, while Manuel Huerta Cardeñas of the United States rounded out the podium in 2:15:52.

Gómez also made it back-to-back women’s titles, racing in her hometown to win in 2:42:51. Yenny Valeria González Guzmán finished second in 2:52:14, and Mirtha Realpe completed an all-Colombian women’s podium in 2:55:39.

More information can be found here.

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