Potts and Warriner rule NOLA
Andy Potts lead from start to finish as he won the 2010 Ochsner Ironman 70.3 New Orleans in a time of 3:43:44. Sam Warriner captured the women's title in a time of 4:16:44.
The men
2007 70.3 World Champion Any Potts used a monster swim to gain over 1:30 over the closest pursuer Graham O'Grady by the time he reached the swim-bike transition. Not too far behind O'Grady were a bunch of the other favorites, namely Terenzo Bozzone, Fredrik Van Lierde, Dirk Bockel and 2007 Ironman Hawaii World Champion Chris McCormack.
Bozzone cranked it hard on the bike and managed to push past the flying Potts enroute to T2. Van Lierde and Bockel also were still within striking distance, but McCormack seemed to be fading out of the picture. O'Grady and Paul Amey were next to finish the bike and all eyes were now on the runners.
Despite the very warm temperatures, Potts looked very smooth and ran a race best 1:12:40 half marathon on his way to the title. Bozzone held on to second place and Amey's 1:15:43 run catapulted him into third.
"I was real happy with the way my body cooperated with my mind during the race. I have been working on things over the off season and hopefully my results will show improvement. I'm committed to becoming better so I want that to shine through on race days," said Potts to slowtwitch. "Plus, having a new addition to the family is great inspiration! I hope to be able to go to a lot of races this year with the entire gang – still too early to fly with the little one but she will be able to fly soon! It adds another challenge but it will be worth it for the memories that we can create."
The women
Dede Griesbauer led the women out of the water and had over 4 minutes on a group that contained some of the pre-race favorites such as Sam Warriner, Linsey Corbin and Yvonne Van Vlerken. Meredith Kessler and Amy Marsh however were in much closer striking distance after the swim, trailing Griesbauer by a 1:02 and 1:44 respectively.
Marsh then put the hammer down on the bike and used a 2:18:25 bike split to land her in T2 in first place. Griesbauer, was next into T2 and had maintained her lead on Warriner and Corbin, and managed to add some additional distance between herself and Kessler. The fastest bike split of the day among the women belonged to Heather Jackson who managed to make back 5 minutes of the 10 minutes she had lost to Griesbauer during the swim.
Once on the run though it soon became the Warriner and Corbin show. Despite the very hot conditions, Warriner and Corbin pushed themselves into first and second with a valiant Marsh holding on to third. Warriner though was not going to be denied on this day and crossed the line first in a time of 4:16:44. Corbin crossed the line in second about a minute later and Marsh rounded out the podium another 2.5 minutes behind Corbin.
"I think I took the lead at about the 5 mile mark and never looked back after that," said Warriner after the race. "Once you're in that position you have to commit 100%, just lay your cards on the table and give it absolutely everything you have, that's what I did, and it paid off today."
Ochsner Ironman 70.3 New Orleans
New Orleans, LA / April 18
Top 10 men
1. Andy Potts (USA) 3:43:44
2. Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) 3:47:17
3. Paul Amey (GBR) 3:49:52
4. Frederik Van Lierde (BEL) 3:50-19
5. Dirk Bockel (LUX) 3:54:02
6. Ben Hoffman (USA) 3:56:28
7. Graham O’Grady (NZL) 3:58:10
8. Swen Sundberg (GER) 3:58:53
9. Brandon Marsh (USA) 4:00:44
10. Balaczs Csoke (HUN) 4:03:28
Top 10 women
1. Sam Warriner (NZL) 4:16:44
2. Linsey Corbin (USA) 4:17:55
3. Amy Marsh (USA) 4:20:23
4. Meredith Kessler (USA) 4:22:06
5. Lauren Harrison (USA) 4:28:49
6. Heather Jackson (USA) 4:29:36
7. Dede Griesbauer (USA) 4:30:07
8. Jacqui Gordon (RSA) 4:32:12
9. Margaret Finley (USA) 4:35:34 * AG F35-39
10. Anne Basso (FRA) 4:36:42
