Lieto, Morrison tops at Texas 70.3

Chris Lieto knocked out an excellent international men’s field with a blazing 2:02:15 bike, and Catriona Morrison took control with a 1:18:18 run to win the Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 Texas race in Galveston.

After giving up 79 seconds to Denmark’s Rasmus Henning on the swim, then topping Henning’s ride by 4:57, Lieto ably defended his lead with a 1:16:56 run which left him with a 1:10 margin of victory over Henning in a swift overall time of 3:45:37.

Timothy O’Donnell’s race-best 1:12:20 run moved him from 11th after the bike to third overall and second in the long course US Pro Championship category, 2:39 back of Lieto. Joe McDaniel took 10th overall and 3rd in the US Pro Championship with a 3:56:05 finish.

In the final miles, O’Donnell’s swift run rocketed him past the ever-dangerous Terenzo Bozzone of New Zealand, who was fading to 4th overall with a 1:18:11 run.

"There was nothing I could do about Lieto today," said Henning in a press release. "I expected him to make a break on the bike, and I had to fight to hold on in the chase group. I had a solid run after catching Bozzone. O'Donnell had a great run, but was never near me at the end."

The men’s race offered an interesting contrast to the 2010 Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 Texas stats and results. In that race, Bozzone won, O'Donnell was second and Lieto was third – with Rasmus Henning not a starter. Lieto’s 2011 winning time was 3:09 faster than Bozzone’s 2010 winning effort and Lieto’s race-best 2011 bike was 2:38 faster than his own race-best 2011 mark.

O’Donnell’s 2011 race-best 1:12:56 run was good, but his 1:11:09 run in 2010 was better and brought him home 2nd rather than 3rd. However, both runs were overshadowed by Tyler Butterfield’s 1:07:52 2010 run which brought him home 4th.

In the women’s race, Morrison broke 6th out of the water 2:18 behind Mary Beth Ellis, 1:09 behind Kelly Williamson, 42 seconds ahead of Canada’s Angela Naeth and 4:05 in front of Switzerland’s killer cyclist Karin Thuerig. Thuerig then took the bike by the throat, posting a race-best 2:12:24 split which gave her a minute lead on Naeth (2:17:02 bike) 1:42 over Morrison (2:18:34 bike), 3:11 over Desiree Ficker (2:18:14 bike), 4:51 over Ellis (2:24:10 bike) and 7:10 over Kelly Williamson 2:28:16 bike).

Naeth took 20 seconds off Thuerig’s lead with a swift T2, but then the tall Swiss World Champion and Olympic bronze medalist time trial cyclist and multiple Ironman winner put up resistance which took most of the first loop of the run to overcome. But nearing the end of the first run lap, just as Naeth passed Thuerig, multiple ITU duathlon world champion Morrison breezed by them both on her way to her race-best run. Morrison’s 4:06:43 finish gave her a 2:57 margin of victory over Naeth and a 3:47 advantage over third place Thuerig.

Morrison’s 4:06:43 winning time also smashed the year-old race record mark of 4:17:22 set by Samantha McGlone.

Naeth’s latest Ironman 70.3 runner-up finish followed six second place finishes in 70.3 races last year. While Naeth holds a reputation as one of the best cyclists in the 70.3 realm, her second-best 2:17:02 split was 4:38 behind Thuerig’s mark. Ultimately, factoring in Thuerig’s glacial 30:52 swim, Naeth’s 1:22:18 run was just enough better than Thuerig’s 1:23:46 mark to give the Canadian the runner-up slot by 50 seconds.

With internationals dominating the podium, the women’s US Pro Championship came down to a tight duel between 2009 Ironman 70.3 World Championship silver medalist Mary Beth Ellis and Austin, Texas 70.3 star Kelly Williamson. After her race-best 24:29 swim topped Williamson by 1:09 and her 2:24:10 bike added another 4:06 to her advantage, Ellis hung on for dear life. At the end, Ellis’s 1:23:04 run was just enough to hold on to Williamson’s 1:18:20 run. Ellis took 4th overall and the US crown with a time of 4:14:39, with Williamson taking 5th overall and 2nd in the US Women’s Championship, 14 seconds in arrears. Desiree Ficker struggled through the end of a 1:26:21 run to take 6th overall and 3rd woman in the US Pro Championship in a time of 4:16:16.

Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 Texas
Galveston, Texas
April 10, 2011
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Elite Men

1. Chris Lieto (USA) 3:45:37
2. Rasmus Henning (DEN) 3:46:47
3. Timothy O’Donnell (USA) 3:48:16
4. Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) 3:50:00
5. Frederik Van Lierde (BEL) 3:50:54
6. Marko Albert (EST) 3:51:26
7. Sebastian Kienle (GER) 3:52:03
8. Ronnie Schildknecht (SUI) 3:53:33
9. Jozsef Major (HUN) 3:54:55
10. Joe McDaniel (USA) 3:56:05

Elite Women

1. Catriona Morrison (GBR) 4:06:43
2. Angela Naeth (CAN) 4:09:40
3. Karin Thuerig (SUI) 4:10:30
4. Mary Beth Ellis (USA) 4:14:39
5. Kelly Williamson (USA) 4:14:53
6. Desiree Ficker (USA) 4:16:16
7. Margaret Shapiro (USA) 4:17:05
8. Meredith Kessler (USA) 4:17:35
9. Tyler Stewart (USA) 4:19:03
10. Sonja Tajsich (GER) 4:20:13