Beals, Lester Soar At Ironman 70.3 Eagleman

Strong showings on a hot day in Cambridge, Md.

Rural Maryland was a hot spot for triathlon this weekend as athletes took on Ironman 70.3 Eagleman for 500 KPR points and $30,000 prize purse. Canadian Cody Beals and Australian Carrie Lester took top honors on a hot day in Cambridge.

Men’s Race
Jacob Rhyner was first out of the water with a 26:24 swim split, followed by Viktor Zyemtsev seven seconds down. Over a minute later, a group of 11 men, including Beals, Raymond Botelho and Thomas Gerlach, set out to chase the lead men down on the bike course.

Beals quickly moved to the front of the race and powered to T2, building a 3:47 gap on the competition along the way. His 2:03:41 bike split gave way to an even more impressive run, as he clocked steady 5:49 miles on his way to a 1:16:21 run split and commanding 3:50:02 win.

Adam Ostot crossed the finish line six minutes later to take second place, while Thomas Gerlach rounded out the podium in third with a 4:01:00 finishing time.

Women’s Race
Jennifer Speildenner had the fastest swim of any athlete—male or female—with a 26:13 split. This gave the American almost a minute over Darbi Roberts and two minutes ahead of Laurel Wassner, Carrie Lester and Kristen Marchant to start the bike leg.

Lester pushed through the crowd to take the lead on the bike, taking a 2:19:33 bike split to enter T2 more than 2 minutes ahead of the competition. Her lead continued to grow on the run as she threw down a 1:32:57 half marathon to cross the finish line in 4:23:43, more than seven minutes ahead of second-place finisher Beth Shutt and nine minutes over third-place Lauren Capone.

2016 Ironman 70.3 Eagleman
Cambridge, Md. – June 12, 2016
1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run

Men
1. Cody Beals (CAN) 3:50:02
2. Adam Ostot (USA)  3:56:38
3. Thomas Gerlach (USA) 4:01:00
4. Greg Close (USA) 4:04:21
5.  Jesse Vondracek (USA) 4:05:00

Women
1. Carrie Lester (AUS) 4:23:43
2. Beth Shutt (USA) 4:30:32
3. Lauren Capone (USA) 4:31:00
4. Kristen Marchant (CAN) 4:32:59
5. Molly Roohi (USA) 4:33:3