Ironman Veterans Set To Race Inaugural Ford Ironman St. George
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The inaugural Ford Ironman St. George is set to take place this Saturday, May 1. Both professionals and age groupers will take on a challenging course. Although the inaugural event is facing off against three other marquee triathlons this weekend, it has attracted a large professional field. Most of the professionals put this race on the schedule hoping they could secure a slot to the Ironman World Championships.
Because this is a first-time race, it’s hard to say who the favorites are. Australia’s Luke Bell will be racing for the first time since suffering many injuries in a training accident back in January. If Bell is fit, he could take the win on Saturday. Another possible winner is Austria’s Michael Weiss. Weiss is a top-notch cyclist, but he will have to have a perfect run performance to take the win. Australia’s Chris McDonald has an Ironman win from 2008’s race in Wisconsin and could also contend. Young American Ben Hoffman is still new to the Ironman distance, but look for him to mix it up on the bike.
The big hitters on the women’s side include Americans Cait Snow, and Heather Wurtele, New Zealand’s Gina Crawford and Australia’s Kate Majors. All four of these women have won at least one Ironman and any one of them could come out on top.
See the complete start list below:
Men
Alessandro Valli
Alex McDonald
Anthony Toth
Ben Hoffman
Brendan Halpin
Chris Casey
Chris McDonald
Christian Brader
Clemens Coenen
Craig Howie
David Castro Iglesias
David Sharratt
Eneko Elosegui
Jerome Bresson
Jozsef Major
Kirill Kotsegarov
Luke Bell
Markus Strini
Martin Lacasse
Michael Weiss
Nathan Faulkner
Nils Goerke
Paul Amey
Matt Lieto
Petr Vabrousek
Scott DeFilippis
Sergio Marques
Sergio Quezada
Steve Osborne
Tim Snow
Tim Surface
Trevor Wurtele
Chris Bagg
Jesse Vondracek
Shingo Tani
Swen Sundberg
Women
Andrea Steinecher
Cait Snow
Gina Crawford
Heather Wurtele
Inge Vancauwenberghe
Irene Kinnegim
Janelle Morrison
Jennifer Luebke
Jocelyn Wong
Karol Dzalaj
Kate Major
Katya Meyers
Lyne Bessette
Meredith Kessler
Nikki Butterfield
Terra Castro
Zsuzsanna Harsanyi