Gambles, Naeth win Syracuse 70.3
Joe Gambles of Australia and Angela Naeth of Canada won the men’s and women’s titles at Ironman 70.3 Syracuse Sunday.
Gambles overcame a 2:52 deficit after the bike to fellow Australian Paul Ambrose with a race-best run split of 1:14:27 to finish in 3:53:51 with a 57 seconds margin of victory over runner-up Ambrose and 3:51 over 3rd place Callum Millward of New Zealand, who tied for the win last week at Ironman 70.3 Boise. The win was Gambles’ first in 2012 and follows an 8th place at Ironman Melbourne and a 3rd place at Rev3 Quassy.
Marko Albert of Estonia (23:07) led the swim, followed closely by Ironman Hawaii runner-up Pete Jacobs of Australia and Graham O’Grady of New Zealand in 23:10. A minute later, Paul Ambrose (24:02), Callum Millward (24:13), Gambles (24:16) and TJ Tollakson and James Lamastra (both 24:20) led the chase.
Ambrose took charge with a race-best 2:09:22 bike that quickly left Albert (2:22:10) and Jacobs (2:17:14) in the dust and left Gambles’ 2nd-fastest 2:12:14 and Callum Millward’s 2:12:18 nearly 3 minutes in arrears.
Gambles took the race by the throat on the run, as his race-fastest 1:14:27 half marathon was 4:13 better than Ambrose and 3:53 better than Millward.
Angela Naeth took her third Ironman 70.3 win of 2012 after a victory at Panama and setting a course record at St. Croix. Naeth overcame a 3:23 deficit to two-time World Champion Jodie Swallow of Great Britain after the swim by posting race-best bike (2:21:55) and run (1:23:24) splits to finish in 4:16:27 with a 2:42 margin of victory over Swallow and 8:25 over 3rd place finisher, defending Syracuse 70.3 champion and 2012 Abu Dhabi champion Nikki Butterfield of Australia.
Swallow led the women out of the water with a 24:38 swim split that was 2:02 better than Margaret Shapiro and Karen Thibodeau, 2:16 better than Suzy Serpico, 3:23 better than Naeth, and 3:30 better than Butterfield.
Naeth, who has set many race-best bike splits at the 70.3 distance, took charge with a race-best 2:21:55 split that was 3:44 better than Swallow, and 4:12 better than bike ace Butterfield.
Naeth put her stamp on the race with a 1:23:24 run that was 2:32 better than Swallow and 4:09 better than Butterfield and thus broke Butterfield's 2011 course record by 2:26.
Ironman 70.3 Syracuse
Syracuse, New York
June 24, 2012
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Joe Gambles (AUS) 3:53:51
2. Paul Ambrose (AUS) 3:54:48
3. Callum Millward (NZL) 3:57:42
4. Pete Jacobs (AUS) 4:01:10
5. Jozsef Major (HUN) 4:05:18
6. Graham O’Grady (NZL) 4:06:42
7. TJ Tollakson (USA) 4:08:09
8. Marko Albert (EST) 4:11:02
9. Jack Smith (USA) 4:11:52
10. James Lamastra (USA) 4:12:04
Women
1. Angela Naeth (CAN) 4:16:27
2. Jodie Swallow (GBR) 4:19:09
3. Nikki Butterfield (AUS) 4:24:52
4. Margaret Shapiro (USA) 4:26:53
5. Julia Grant (NZL) 4:37:48
6. Karen Thibodeau (CAN) 4:40:23
7. Peggy Yetman (USA) * F40-44
8. Suzy Serpico (USA) 4:42:55
9. Molly Roohi (USA) 4:45:08 * F30-34
10. Danielle Ohlson (USA) * F30-34
