Originally published at: IRONMAN Oceanside 70.3 From The Ground Recap Report - Slowtwitch News
This weekend the industry gathered in Oceanside, CA, for the big “North American” launch of the 2025 endurance season.
IRONRMAN 70.3 Oceanside was the third stop for the IRONMAN Pro Series. As the second 70.3 of the pro series and the first in the US, North American athletes were on hand to try to earn some prize money and put some points on the board. At the same time, though, the T100 group arguably took a lot of talent to the streets of Singapore in a “contractual move,” but the race at Oceanside didn’t lack some of the best athletes in the world.
Although IRONMAN almost nailed the women’s podium, the men’s field was 50% of its prior headlining guess.
| Pro Women | Pro Men |
| Paula Findlay (CAN) | Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) |
| Jackie Hering (USA) | Gustav Iden (NOR) |
| Tamara Jewett (CAN) | Patrick Lange (DEU) |
| Danielle Lewis (USA) | Lionel Sanders (CAN) |
PRE RACE
Race morning was actually a little bit warmer than some years in the past. Still, water temps in the bay were in the high 50’s and a cold patch towards the turnaround left some of the professional athletes with some tough choices to make when to came to the neoprene they would use.
These two (Gustav Iden and Kristian Blummenfelt) are never NOT fun at the races. No matter what is going on they seem to always be ready to keep things fun..
The pro’s are getting use to the fanfare of the IRONMAN Pro Series. The TV walk outs are getting more organized and the most of the pro’s are starting to get their TV faces figured out.
Film Crew lead Topher Riley talking with KB before the race.
The sport of triathlon will always be special as you get to race with your hero’s
Although today’s champ Lionel Sanders still seems little shy.
American Pro Lisa Becharas is never shy of a good camera moment. She would end up 7th on the day.
THE SWIM
In the women’s race, Great Britain’s Stephanie Clutterbuck would come out of the water first with a swim time of 26:12 followed closely by Paula Findlay, Lydia Russell and Grace Alexander, who all finished in under 27:00. Danielle Lewis had the biggest time gap (from the podium finishers) with a swim time of 31:00.
The men’s race would be a little more congested coming out of the water with 12 athletes all within a minute of each other. American Greg Harper grabbed first dibs of the boat ramp in a time of 22:48. Mega bikers including Lionel Sanders would come out in 26:00, which meant he would have more than 3 mins to make up.
THE BIKE
The big conversation on the bike was race favorite Kristian Blummenfelt suffering a flat on his front wheel around mile 12 or so. Not seeing the smooth path on the left side of the road KB, got caught in some rough stuff that would end up giving him another podium ending front flat tire. See what Im talking about below.
Above is a better view of the “Line” KB would end up taking.
On the walk back I would find his Garmin on the ground. I made sure to text his Emergency contact to let them know he was ok.. Just heart broken.
Justin Riele would have the fastest bike split of day – 2:05:31. He would pay for it later in the race with a 1:23:00 run.
Mr Sanders always struggles with COLD swims. But today’s setback didn’t stop him from believing he had what it takes to repeat here at Oceanside. He would post the 2nd fastest bike split 2:05:37 and, later, the 3rd fastest run.
American Pro Ben Kanute found a better home with VENTUM for the next couple of years. He is pretty stoked on the new partnership and really likes the setup, although the last minute bike changes left his front end “new” and he ended up loosing 2 nutrition bottles with 80% of his calories. This would lead to him loosing a little bit of engery that he would need to make up as soon as he got to T2, where he had more of his nutrition.
Mr Rudy Von Berg would have the 3rd fastest bike spilt on the day. The Bison is as consistent as ever these days with his 3 disciplines. It truly is just a matter of time for him to get a lot more wins.
Pro Athlete Michael Arishita would try for the “most aero” award with this set up.
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The fastest women’s split was earned by American Lisa Becharas, who out biked Jackie Hering by 25 secs.
American Grace Alexander would have the 4th fastest bike split of the day with a 2:24:04
Swim leader Stephanie Clutterbuck would start to settle into her first race of the year, later telling her post race interviewers how she prefers the longer distances.
The surprise of the day would be normal bike leader Paula Findlay, who would end up with the 5th fastest bike split of 2:24:35. She did say she was going to try to pace her race a little more and it seemed to have worked out just fine.
THE RUN
The run at Oceanside is always fun to watch. It’s a 3 loop course that allows for some great crowd cheering and split gathering. The men’s race was back and forth until Sanders decided that he was 100% going to be the winner on the day. He took that lead about mile 7 “ish” and, from that point on it was just the back of the pack trying to fight for the top 5.
Lionel Sanders takes the lead
Besides Sanders‘ comeback, in the end it was KB that set a new standard in the run. He was on a mission to show the men’s field that they better continue to pray that he doesnt start carrying a flat repair kit with him in the future.
KB sets out on crushing the run with a 1:07:19
His On Cloudboom Strikes found in T2.
Meanwhile the shoe that took the overall top podium was the Asics METASPEED EDGE PARIS. You never know what Lionel Sanders is going to wear.
The Bison and the Norwegian would battle all day on the run for 2nd and 3rd place. Even though Gustav Iden would end up having a faster run, the time Rudy put into him on the bike would end up putting Rudy in 2nd and Gustav in 3rd.
American Seth Rider would end up with another top 5 performance finishing the day 4th overall. This is coming off his last 70.3, where he placed 3rd at IRONMAN 70.3 Italy at the end of Sept., 2024
American Ben Kanute would grab 5th with a last min kick to edge out Australia’s Jake Birtwhistle
The women’s race was also just as exciting with the top 3 athletes as it was a battle of the top step between Jackie Hering and Paula Findlay and the “What if” Danielle could catch them.
In the post race interview Hering admitted to allowing herself to get a little too excited during the run and probably missed some gels, which lead to her “really hurting” towards the end.
Paula was given the “LFG” by her husband Eric Largerstrom, which, in the end was what she needed to be reminded of the feeling of winning.
American Danielle Lewis would end up 3rd overall, just 2:28 down from the lead. That’s a mighty good claw back from her horrible swim of 31:00
Canadian Pro Tamara Jewett would end up having the fasted run with a 1:17:00 that would move her into 4th place overall, with Estonia Pro Kaidi Kivioja taking the 5th spot on the day.
After all was said and done, both races were exciting to watch as both fields had changing lead battles throughout the race. With the final results being the following for top 10:
WOMEN’S TOP 10 RACE RESULTS
| Place | Athlete | Swim | Bike | Run | Total | Points |
| 1 | Paula Findlay | 00:26:22 | 02:24:35 | 01:20:11 | 04:16:50 | 2,500 |
| 2 | Jackie Hering | 00:27:05 | 02:24:00 | 01:20:14 | 04:17:09 | 2,481 |
| 3 | Danielle Lewis | 00:31:00 | 02:22:59 | 01:18:30 | 04:18:18 | 2,412 |
| 4 | Tamara Jewett | 00:28:19 | 02:29:51 | 01:17:00 | 04:20:59 | 2,251 |
| 5 | Kaidi Kivioja | 00:28:20 | 02:25:10 | 01:21:17 | 04:21:21 | 2,229 |
| 6 | Grace Alexander | 00:26:32 | 02:24:04 | 01:25:02 | 04:21:52 | 2,198 |
| 7 | Lisa Becharas | 00:28:21 | 02:22:34 | 01:26:11 | 04:22:19 | 2,171 |
| 8 | Anna Buettner | 00:31:15 | 02:28:46 | 01:18:37 | 04:25:22 | 1,988 |
| 9 | Adele Likin | 00:28:30 | 02:30:08 | 01:23:24 | 04:28:59 | 1,771 |
| 10 | Lydia Russell | 00:26:22 | 02:37:58 | 01:19:25 | 04:29:32 | 1,738 |
MEN’S TOP 10 RACE RESULTS
| Place | Athlete | Swim | Bike | Run | Total | Points |
| 1 | Lionel Sanders | 00:26:00 | 02:05:37 | 01:11:28 | 03:47:01 | 2,500 |
| 2 | Rudy Von Berg | 00:23:53 | 02:05:57 | 01:14:26 | 03:47:42 | 2,459 |
| 3 | Gustav Iden | 00:23:59 | 02:07:11 | 01:13:34 | 03:48:06 | 2,435 |
| 4 | Seth Rider | 00:22:54 | 02:07:59 | 01:14:52 | 03:49:18 | 2,363 |
| 5 | Ben Kanute | 00:23:30 | 02:07:27 | 01:14:55 | 03:49:24 | 2,357 |
| 6 | Jake Birtwhistle | 00:23:39 | 02:08:52 | 01:13:24 | 03:49:26 | 2,355 |
| 7 | Sam Appleton | 00:23:35 | 02:07:22 | 01:15:57 | 03:50:32 | 2,289 |
| 8 | Andrea Salvisberg | 00:23:46 | 02:10:45 | 01:14:13 | 03:52:27 | 2,174 |
| 9 | Ari Klau | 00:27:08 | 02:11:58 | 01:09:51 | 03:54:57 | 2,024 |
| 10 | Braden Currie | 00:24:03 | 02:13:32 | 01:14:10 | 03:55:09 | 2,012 |
