Matthews, McGlone win Syracuse 70.3

Australia’s Paul Matthews blew away the field with a race-best 2:08:35 bike split and Canada’s Samantha McGlone edged runner-up Rachel Challis with a second-best 1:26:24 run to take the top spots at Ironman 70.3 Syracuse.

Men

Matthews’ race-best 24:17 swim led a tight pack which included James Hadley (24:18), Sean Bechtel (24:21) and Kent Horner (24:26), with Maxim Kriat (24:43) 26 seconds back. Matthews once again showed the bike power that gave him a runner-up to Craig Alexander at Muskoka, blitzing to a 2:08:35 split that gave him 6:44 advantage on Bechtel and 7:40 on Kriat.

On the run, Matthews’ race-best 1:14:23 was 13-seconds better than Kriat, 2:29 better than James Hadley’s 1:16:52 and 3:25 better than Bechtel’s 1:17:48.

Matthews 3:49:49 winning time gave him an 8 minutes 12 seconds margin of victory over runner-up Maxim Kriat of the Ukraine and 10 minutes 20 seconds over third place Sean Bechtel of Canada and 12:45 over 4th-place James Hadley of Great Britain.

Matthews’ win follows a 3rd place finish at Calgary 70.3 and a 2nd place to Craig Alexander at Muskoka 70.3.

Women

McGlone emerged from the swim in 27:34, 57 seconds behind Leslie Sanderson and 10 seconds ahead of Challis. McGlone and Challis dueled to a virtual standoff on the bike, with the Canadian prevailing by 11 seconds over her Carlsbad, California rival. At T2, both of them trailed Kristin White of Manlius New York, who overcame a 29:37 swim with a race-best 2:27:31 bike to lead going into the run.

McGlone, the 2006 Ironman 70.3 World Champion and 2007 Ironman Hawaii runner-up, then sealed the win with a 1:26:24 half marathon that added 1:09 to her lead on Challis and ceded best run of the women’s field by 2 minutes 49 seconds to fellow Canadian and 4th place finisher Annie Gervais. Kristin White held off Gervais’ charge with a 1:30:07 run which was enough to maintain third place by a 41-seconds margin.

McGlone’s victory adds to her 2010 results which include a win at the Desert Du Classic, a 3rd place at Ironman 70.3 at Oceanside, and a win at Ironman 70.3 Texas.

Ironman 70.3 Syracuse
Syracuse, New York
September 19, 2010
S 1.2 mi./ B 56 mi./ R 13.1 mi.

Results

Overall men

1. Paul Matthews (AUS) 3:49:49
2. Maxim Kriat (UKR) 3:58:01
3. Sean Bechtel (CAN) 4:00:09
4. James Hadley (GBR) 4:02:34
5. Mike Caiazzo (USA) 4:06:32
6. Kent Horner (RSA) 4:08:06
7. Ryan Grant (CAN) 4:08:40
8. Paul Fritzsche (USA) 4:11:34
9. Kyle Pawlaczyk (USA) 4:12:12
10. Jimmy Archer (USA) 4:13:05

Overall women

1. Samantha McGlone (CAN) 4:28:55
2. Rachel Challis (USA) 4:30:37
3. Kristin White (USA) 4:31:11n * F35-39
4. Annie Gervais (CAN) 4:31:52
5. Tamara Kozulina (UKR) 4:32:33
6. Heather Leiggi (USA) 4:36:15
7. Kate Auwaerter (USA) 4:37:50 * F40-44
8. Claire Horner (RSA) 4:38:20
9. Amber Ferreira (USA) 4:39:23 * F25-29
10. Christine Fletcher (CAN) 4:41:25