Foley, Ueda Tops at Waco 70.3
ITU and World Triathlon Olympic distance veteran Ai Ueda, 39, scored her first 70.3 win and 23-year-old University of Florida grad Trevor Foley earned his first Ironman 70.3 victory at the West Texas classic Ironman 70.3 Waco this Sunday.
Foley put to good use his NCAA track mojo – 30:46 for the 10,000 meters and 14:03 for the 5,000 meters – to win. He unleashed a race-best 1:11:18 in the closing 10k to finish in 3:45:58 with a 3:17 margin over Justin Metzler of the U.S. and 5:09 over third-place finisher Andy Potts.
Ueda, a three-time Olympian with 5 World Cup wins in three decades of ITU experience, recently finished 8th at Ironman Ireland – and so her win at Waco bodes well for her continued exploration of the long course world.
Men's Race Recap
Five competitors surged to the front on the swim, including Potts and Metzler. Foley by contrast struggled to a 19th-best 28:17 split that left him 4 minutes arrears starting the bike.
At the start of the bike, Potts, Elliot Bach of the U.S. and Martin Ulloa of Chile broke to the front.
Approaching T2, Metzler broke away to a minute gap, leaving Ulloa, Bach and Potts next in line. Foley whittled his deficit down to 34 seconds behind the chasers. Once he stated the run, Foley quickly dispatched all comer. On his way to a race-best 1:11:18 half marathon, Foley finished in 3:45:58 with a 3:17 margin over Metzler and 5:09 ahead of 3rd place finisher Potts.
Foley’s win was not a total shock as earlier this year he took second at Ironman 70.3 Augusta, 6th at Ironman Texas and 8th at Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga.
Women's Race Recap
While she was 1:49 down to swim leader Julie lemmolo after the swim, Ueda still managed to exit in 3rd place. After a women’s 4th-quickest 2:23:04 bike split, Ueda arrived at T2 in 2nd place, 1:51 behind lemmolo.
On the run, Ueda put the hammer down with a women’s-fastest 1:21:22 split for the half marathon, crossing the line in 4:19:16 with a 5:55 margin over Sarah Bishop of the U.S. and 8:44 over 3rd-place finisher Melanie McQuaid of Canada.
Ironman 70.3 Waco
Waco, Texas
October 16, 2022
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Men's Results
1. Trevor Foley (USA) S 28:17 T1 2:49 B 2:01:26 T2 2:10 R 1:11:18 TOT 3:45:58
2. Justin Metzler (USA) S 24:13 T1 2:36 B 2:05:08 T2 2:49 R 1:14:31 TOT 3:49:15
3. Andy Potts (USA) S 24:21 T1 2:44 B 2:05:13 T2 2:47 R 1:16:03 TOT 3:51:07
4. Martin Ulloa (CHL) S 25:32 T1 2:50 B 2:04:02 T2 2:18 R 1:17:59 TOT 3:52:39
5. Matthew Sharpe (CAN) S 24:13 T1 2:36 B 2:10:45 T2 2:34 R 1:14:03 TOT 3:54:09
6. Elliot Bach (USA) S 25:38 T1 2:43 B 2:04:02 T2 2:24 R 1:19:48 TOT 3:54:32
7. Kevin Collington (USA) S 25:32 T1 2:45 B 2:09:50 T2 3:03 R 1:14:57 TOT 3:56:04
8. Travis Wood (USA) S 26:18 T1 2:52 B 2:06:58 T2 2:17 R 1:17:57 TOT 3:56:21
9. Benjamin Deal (USA) S 25:51 T1 2:53 B 2:09:15 T2 2:29 R 1:17:01 TOT 3:57:27
10. Jesse Vondracek (USA) S 26:13 T1 2:59 B 2:10:27 T2 3:05 R 1:18:09 TOT 4:00:51
Women's Results
1. Ai Ueda (JPN) S 29:04 T1 2:52 B 2:23:04 T2 2:55 R 1:21:22 TOT 4:19:16
2. Sarah Bishop (USA) S 33:48 T1 3:17 B 2:18:41 T2 2:53 R 1:26:35 TOT 4:25:12
3. Julie lemmolo (FRA) S 27:15 T1 3:13 B 2:22:42 T2 2:39 R 1:32:14 TOT 4:28:00
4. Melanie McQuaid (CAN) S 29:06 T1 3:20 B 2:22:35 T2 3:00 R 1:34:41 TOT 4:32:41
5. Sierra Snyder (USA) S 28:59 T1 3:27 B 2:32:10 T2 3:00 R 1:31:15 TOT 4:38:49
6. Bruna Mahn (BRA) S 29:08 T1 3:25 B 2:32:53 T2 3:15 R 1:33:47 TOT 4:42:26
7. Haley Koop (USA) S 33:08 T1 3:08 B 2:30:08 T2 2:48 R 1:41:01 TOT 4:50:11
8. Amy Vantassel (USA) S 34:29 T1 3:55 B 2:42:08 T2 3:32 R 1:33:15 TOT 4:57:16
