Originally published at: Ladies Day at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship Marbella - Slowtwitch News
Photos: Kevin Mackinnon
Saturday at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship is always ladies day, and it always feels, well, a bit more laid back. Today’s race featured roughly 2,400 women and, of course, provided us with an exciting pro women’s race won by Lucy Charles-Barclay. The lion’s share of my day was spent out on the bike course, so this photo gallery is a bit bike heavy, but since that leg of the race is both spectacular and challenging, hopefully you won’t mind.
Here goes:
Ottawa, Canada’s Heather Ireland was all smiles before the start, and was hopefully still smiling after her 7:25:51 finish.
IRONMAN legend Missy Lestrange would take third in the women’s 70 to 74 age group in a time of 7:49:51
First it was the pro women heading off …
… Followed by the HC/ PC athletes.
The age-group athletes waited anxiously to get things started.
Sick of us talking about the beautiful bike course? Jess Learmonth rides through Ojan, which is just before the big climb in the race.
Canadian Paula Findlay had a strong bike, but would eventually have to pull out of the race due to a hip injury.
Up ahead, though, Lucy Charles-Barclay and Taylor Knibb were trading the lead.
Knibb would eventually have the day’s fastest bike split.
Kat Matthews rode aggressively to keep herself in the mix – she’s seen here passing Sif Bendix Madsen.
Aussie Ellie Salthouse would take 10th.
Kona champ Solveig Lovseth finished sixth.
Charles-Barclay wasn’t taking in the sights as she focused on staying close to Knibb on the bike.
As the pros were heading down the hill, there were a lot of age groupers going up.
Georgia Taylor-Brown’s “off year” included a fourth place finish here.
We did mention the course was beautiful, right? (Jessica Learmonth in another scenic shot.)
Matthews looked strong to start the run, but would pull up with a calf injury after a few miles.
Marjoleine Pierre would run her way to fifth.
In just her second long-distance race, Tanja Neubert would round out the podium in third.
Danielle Lewis on the run. She would finish 26th today.
Knibb couldn’t stay with a fast-running Charles-Barclay, but was still able to hold onto a solid runner-up finish.
Speaking of fast-running … Charles-Barclay’s 1:17:14 was the fastest run split of the day.
We even had a Slowtwitch/ Goodlife team member to celebrate at the finish.