Andy Potts rules Whistler
Andy Potts built a 12:44 lead after race-best swim and bike splits, then held on for a 7:08 margin of victory over swift-running over Pedro Gomes to win the overall pro title at Ironman Canada.
While Ironman Lake Placid hosted the North American women pros this year, Ironman Canada offered a pro purse for the men and the Colorado Springs resident took advantage to win his 7th Ironman crown.
As he has in 97 percent of his races, Potts led the swim. His 47:03 split gave him a 2:47 lead on Canadian Trevor Wurtele, 2:50 on Gomes, 3:01 on Callum Millward of New Zealand, 3:03 on Mike Aigroz of Switzerland, 3:04 on Maik Twelsiek of Germany, 3:23 on Justin Daerr of the U.S. and 5:44 on Derek Garcia of the U.S.
Riding on another level, Potts blew away the competition with a race-best 4:31:07 bike split – 9:49 better than the next-best ride of Gomes and 10:11 better than Trevor Wurtele – which gave him a 12:44 lead on Wurtele, 12:47 on Gomes, 13:44 on Aigroz and 15:39 on Twelsiek.
With plenty of lead in the bank, Potts played his hand conservatively, giving back 3 minutes to Gomes and 1:13 to Wurtele by 17km of the run. At 28km, Gomez whittled Potts’ lead to 8:17 and Wurtele chipped Potts’ advantage to 9:57. Potts played it cool all the way to the end where his 2:58:19 marathon brought him to the finish in 8:20:23 with a 7:08 margin of victory over Gomes (2:52:34 run), 10:02 over 3rd-place Wurtele (2:55:18 run) and 17:49 over 4th-place Justin Daerr of the U.S. (2:59:40 run).
While Potts' performance was excellent, it fell 4:13 short of Marino Vanhoenacker's 2014 course record.
Ironman Canada
Whistler, BC, Canada
July 24, 2016
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Results
Pro Men
1. Andy Potts (USA) 8:20:23
2. Pedro Gomes (POR) 8:27:31
3. Trevor Wurtele (CAN) 8:30:25
4. Justin Daerr (USA) 8:38:12
5. Mike Aigroz (SUI) 8:40:24
6. Elliot Holtham (CAN) 8:46:48
7. Derek Garcia (USA) 8:51:10
8. Maik Twelsiek (GER) 9:02:22
9. Dylan Gleeson (CAN) 9:02:51
10. Scott Bradley (USA) 9:32:17
