Sanders, Haskins On Top At Ironman 70.3 Texas

Canada’s Lionel Sanders impressed on the 70.3 circuit for the second week in a row (he also won 70.3 California), while American Sarah Haskins reclaimed her top spot on a 70.3 podium after finishing second at last month’s Ironman 70.3 Puerto Rico.

Men’s Race
Sanders spent the bike ride making up for his 26:57 swim time, which put him as the 39th pro male out of the water. Up ahead, the story was Andrew Starykowicz (USA) and his blistering bike speed. The American turned in a 1:58:44 bike split to come off the bike in first, but it was Sanders who had the fastest ride of the day (1:58:09) to ride up 37 positions to second—2:08 back of Starykowicz—into T2. Sanders followed that stellar cycling effort with the second-fastest run of the day (1:13:09) to take his second victory in eight days and defend his 70.3 Texas title, crossing the finish line at 3:40:30. Germany’s Andreas Dreitz finished right behind Sanders for the second week in a row, completing his race at 3:43:46. Austria’s Michael Weiss rounded out the top three at 3:45:32. Starykowicz held on for a 3:46:06 finish in fourth.

Women’s Race
Haskins started her day out front, posting a 24:32 swim split to establish a more-than-a-minute lead over the chase group of Jeanni Seymour (RSA), Katy Blakemore (USA), Kaitlin Anelauskas (USA) and Corrie Kristick (USA). Haskins backed up that swim effort with a strong bike, going into T2 with a 1:21 lead over Seymour, a 2:37 lead over Laura Philipp (GER) and a 2:47 lead over Liz Lyles (USA). Seymour put up a solid effort on the run, posting a 1:25:02 half-marathon split, but Haskins was also strong and held the top spot to the finish line. She earned the victory at 4:12:46, with Seymour finishing second at 4:13:54. American Jodie Robertson was stellar on the run, posting by far the fastest split of the women at 1:20:14 to finish in third at 4:14:36.