Hoffman, Marsh take Lake Placid
Ben Hoffman of Durango, Colorado rode the second-fastest bike and had the fifth-fastest run on the way to his first Ironman victory, while Amy Marsh of Austin, Texas smashed all her rivals by nearly 20 minutes with a race-best 5:07:44 bike to take her third career Ironman win by an overall margin of 16:48 at Lake Placid Sunday.
The men
Hoffman emerged from the swim in 55:06 just two seconds ahead of Germany’s Maik Twelsiek, was just five seconds back of Twelsiek’s race-best 4:37:58 bike, and took charge on the run with a fifth-best 3:01:24 marathon that left him 6:59 ahead of fast-closing runner-up Petr Vabrousek of the Czech Republic.
Vabrousek’s 2:53:21 marathon vaulted the multiple-Ironmans-per-year veteran to second place with a two minutes even margin over Twelsiek.
Twelsiek faded to a 3:10:19 marathon but held on for third place, 8:59 behind Hoffman. Justin Daerr of Boulder Colorado ran a 3:05:49 marathon and held on for 4th in 9:09:54. Tim Snow of Brockton, Massachusetts, husband of women’s second-place finisher Caitlin Snow, ran 2:53:46 to take 5th in 9:10:48.
"It still hasn't sunk in yet, but I'm happy to at least say that I am an Ironman champion. Since it was the main goal for my season, I am very content that my plan came together on race day," said Hoffman to slowtwitch. "Hats off to all the competitors who finished that challenging course."
The women
Marsh’s women’s race-best 55:43 swim gave her a 2 minutes 39 seconds margin over Snow and five more seconds over Australian contender Kate Bevilaqua. Marsh then drove a stake into the heart of any pretenders with a 5:07:44 bike split that put 29:46 on Snow, 18:01 on Marangon and 19:18 on Bevilaqua.
With such a comfortable lead, the 32-year-old fast rising star on Brett Sutton’s Team TBB squad played her cards conservatively with a women’s third-best 3:18:27 marathon. Marsh thus gave away 14:50 to Snow’s race-best 3:03:37 run but still left defending champion Snow 16:48 behind at the finish.
Marsh’s time was just 3 minutes off the women's race record and positioned her 13th overall against all the men.
Lisa Marangon of Australia spent much of the day in second, but her 3:22:46 marathon surrendered second place to Snow miles from the finish and her 9:51:31 finish was 2:08 ahead of 4th-place finisher and fellow Aussie Kate Bevilaqua.
Ironman Lake Placid
Lake Placid, New York
July 25, 2010
S 2.4 mi./ B 112 mi./ R 26.2 mi.
Results
Men
1. Ben Hoffman (USA) 8:39:34
2. Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 8:46:33
3. Maik Twelsiek (GER) 8:48:33
4. Justin Daerr (USA) 9:05:09
5. Tim Snow (USA) 9:10:48
6. Brad Seng (USA) 9:15:19
7. Ian Mikelson (USA) 9:15:58
8. Matthew Sheeks (USA) 9:17:57
9. Jesse Vondracek (USA) 9:18:10
10. Patrick Allaire (CAN) 9:18:22 * M30-34
Women
1. Amy Marsh (USA) 9:27:30
2. Caitlin Snow (USA) 9:44:18
3. Lisa Marangon (AUS) 9:51:31
4. Kate Bevilaqua (AUS) 9:53:39
5. Kelly Liljeblad (USA) 9:59:54
6. Kristin Andrews (USA) 10:01:42 * W25-29
7. Tara Norton (CAN) 10:11:08
8. Amber Ferreira (USA) 10:11:32 * W25-29
9. Charisa Wernick (USA) 10:13:07
10. Danielle Sullivan (USA) 10:19:19
* Age group competitor
