Some Fast Age Groupers at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside

Triathlon Forum
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OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: A triathlete finishes the 2026 IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside on March 28, 2026 in Oceanside, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images for IRONMAN)

I just got back from Oceanside and let me tell you Kristian Blummenfelt and Taylor Knibb got all the news headlines at Saturday’s IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside, rightfully so. Blummenfelt’s 3:40:07 and Knibb’s 4:01:38 were both course records. But, buried in the full results, is a story that rarely gets told, and rarely is as evident as it was at this weekend’s event.

The bigger conversation that I wanted to talk about was the success of the age group race. According to the results, 3,026 age group athletes toed the line this last Saturday morning. (This is only male and female solo racers in those divisions.) With around an 84% finishing rate, that meant 2,525 finished. While there were 55 Countries represented, nearly 80% of the field was American, and I’m going to guess that a solid chuck of those are from the triathlon hub around the Oceanside area. It was awesome to see such large numbers of excited age groupers and, according to IRONMAN, 1,400 of those were first timers.

So Let’s talk about the 126 age groupers that crossed the line ahead of at least one professional athlete.

The Women: Age Groupers

Julia Day (F30-34, USA), the day’s fastest age-group woman, finished in 4:36:49 — ahead of 10 female pros. That’s not a typo. Ten.

The pros she beat included Maia Watson (+0:31), Kelly Barton (+0:48), Ali Brauer (+2:04), Joanna Ryter (+5:48) and six others. That Day’s time would have placed her in the top 50% of the women’s pro field at many IRONMAN 70.3 events around the world.

Some other noticeable athletes were Christina Case, a 45-49 age grouper from the U.S., who finished in 4:50:36 and beat six female pros, including Anna Guzman, who she beat by 24 seconds. And then there’s Julia Weisbecker, competing in the 60-64 category, who crossed in 5:14:21 and beat two pros. Sixty-plus and faster than two women with pro licenses. That’s impressive. Who are all these rock star women?

70 Female Age Groupers Who Beat Female Pros

The women's pro field ranged from (4:01:38) to (5:26:56).

#AthleteAGTimePros Beaten
1 Julia Day F30-34 4:36:49 10
2 Nicole Heininger F35-39 4:43:03 6
3 McKenna Morello F25-29 4:43:27 6
4 Lexi Wright F25-29 4:45:08 6
5 Anna Ikelheimer F18-24 4:46:08 6
6 Leah Winckler F30-34 4:48:54 6
7 Amelia Zwiener F30-34 4:48:54 6
8 Christina Case F45-49 4:50:36 6
9 Rennie Tankersley F30-34 4:51:21 5
10 Kristen Radtke F35-39 4:52:33 5
11 Abigail Archer F25-29 4:52:47 5
12 Molly Lesser F35-39 4:53:40 5
13 Jordan Stiewig F25-29 4:53:53 5
14 Alexandra Sborov F30-34 4:56:09 5
15 Ava Smith F18-24 4:57:55 5
16 Kaitlin Carew F25-29 4:57:56 5
17 Laura McDonald F40-44 4:59:04 5
18 Ashley Anderson F35-39 5:00:31 4
19 Meghan Grant F40-44 5:00:57 4
20 Nicole Mohajer F35-39 5:02:01 4
21 Mariana Martinez Suarez F35-39 5:04:26 4
22 Claire Koeppel F25-29 5:04:39 3
23 Nina Broccard F18-24 5:05:49 3
24 Jamie Schnuck F30-34 5:06:16 3
25 Grace Banas F30-34 5:06:21 3
26 Carly Hyland F30-34 5:06:34 2
27 Gillian Micoli F40-44 5:07:10 2
28 Christina Sebastian F25-29 5:07:21 2
29 Julia Ferreira F30-34 5:07:54 2
30 Lara Erlank F35-39 5:08:03 2
31 Becky McQuain F40-44 5:08:34 2
32 Justine Quach F35-39 5:08:56 2
33 Wendy Fawley F50-54 5:09:07 2
34 Sophie Collin F30-34 5:09:14 2
35 Camille Buchanan F18-24 5:09:53 2
36 Kayla Marmolejo F35-39 5:10:03 2
37 Monica Folts F40-44 5:11:25 2
38 Ana Gallardo Avila F35-39 5:11:30 2
39 Ana Maynez F18-24 5:12:11 2
40 Ellee Becker F25-29 5:12:53 2
41 Kelsie Yamano F18-24 5:13:36 2
42 Kaley Suero F30-34 5:13:50 2
43 Meagan Perlstein F45-49 5:13:50 2
44 Carolyn Carter F30-34 5:14:00 2
45 Julia Weisbecker F60-64 5:14:21 2
46 Kristen Lamb F50-54 5:14:36 2
47 Sarah Mensinger F30-34 5:14:47 2
48 Allison Johnston F30-34 5:14:55 2
49 Johanna Hudson F45-49 5:16:13 2
50 Mylene Ghestin F35-39 5:17:08 2
51 Maggie Feikes F30-34 5:17:40 2
52 Karine Levert-Amyot F30-34 5:17:47 2
53 Lauren Sayles F25-29 5:17:55 2
54 Sophia Goland F25-29 5:18:23 2
55 Christine Houser F45-49 5:18:35 2
56 Kelly Hellman F25-29 5:19:24 2
57 Ulyana Zarubina F35-39 5:19:25 2
58 Liz Cullen F45-49 5:20:00 2
59 Marcella Rietz F50-54 5:21:20 2
60 Alison Lany F30-34 5:22:18 2
61 Emily Egart F40-44 5:22:39 2
62 Hannah O'Hearn F30-34 5:23:05 1
63 Kristen Day F40-44 5:23:27 1
64 Rochelle Arko F50-54 5:24:11 1
65 Helen Sheirbon F50-54 5:25:37 1
66 Tracey Hayes F45-49 5:25:43 1
67 Jacqueline Beaulieu F45-49 5:26:07 1
68 Jennifer Finotti-Sheppard F45-49 5:26:17 1
69 Marie Town F40-44 5:26:19 1
70 Ann Rusk F35-39 5:26:40 1

Women's age groupers who beat the most pros

Athlete AG Time Pros Beaten
Julia DayF30-344:36:4910
Nicole HeiningerF35-394:43:036
McKenna MorelloF25-294:43:276
Lexi WrightF25-294:45:086
Anna IkelheimerF18-244:46:086
Leah WincklerF30-344:48:546
Amelia ZwienerF30-344:48:546
Christina CaseF45-494:50:366
Wendy FawleyF50-545:09:072
Julia WeisbeckerF60-645:14:212

The Men: Age Groupers

OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: Orlando Campos Sanchez of Mexico finishes the 2026 IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside on March 28, 2026 in Oceanside, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images for IRONMAN)

Reed Legg, an 18-24 age grouper from the U.S., finished in 4:01:15 — ahead of 20 male pros. Another 18-24 competitor, Sigurd Elvestad, came in at 4:03:08 and beat 16 pros.

But, as with the women’s results, the more interesting cases were the masters athletes. Tom De Bruyn, a 40-44 competitor from Belgium, clocked 4:09:36 and beat eight male professionals. Pedro Gomes (a retired pro from Portugal), also competing in the 40-44 category, was also ahead of eight pros with his 4:10:18. Jordan Nichols (M45-49) finished in 4:27:55 and still crossed ahead of three pros.

56 Male Age Groupers Who Beat Male Pros

The men's pro field ranged from (3:40:07) to (4:32:44).

#AthleteAGTimePros Beaten
1 Reed Legg M18-24 4:01:15 20
2 Sigurd Elvestad M18-24 4:03:08 16
3 Arthur Benson M25-29 4:07:06 11
4 Nathan Kim M18-24 4:08:16 9
5 Addy Epp M18-24 4:09:09 8
6 Tom De Bruyn M40-44 4:09:36 8
7 Hippolyte Colin M25-29 4:09:48 8
8 Pedro Gomes* M40-44 4:10:18 8
9 Liam Kennedy M18-24 4:10:35 8
10 Christian Oakley M25-29 4:12:26 7
11 Sean Saxton M25-29 4:12:34 7
12 Justin Wegner M35-39 4:12:54 7
13 John Rak M25-29 4:15:28 7
14 Denis Santana Vera M25-29 4:15:35 7
15 Reilly Walsh M25-29 4:15:50 7
16 Guglielmo Schiavoni M35-39 4:17:26 4
17 Colin Chetelat M25-29 4:17:50 4
18 James Riegger M30-34 4:18:13 4
19 Cody King M25-29 4:19:32 4
20 Duncan Bullock M40-44 4:20:10 4
21 Ezra Swell M25-29 4:20:23 4
22 Cal Wilson M18-24 4:21:01 4
23 Eric Osband M18-24 4:21:24 4
24 Keith Eriks M30-34 4:22:05 4
25 Stephen Yang M25-29 4:22:10 4
26 Sean Obrien M35-39 4:22:31 4
27 Zack Reuter M25-29 4:22:34 4
28 Eric Frorenza-Hubbard M30-34 4:22:41 4
29 Carson Kidwell M30-34 4:22:59 4
30 Vincent Lete M35-39 4:23:19 4
31 Kristoffer Buus Langkilde M25-29 4:23:24 3
32 Lucas Lherbier M25-29 4:24:42 3
33 Mathew Engle M35-39 4:24:53 3
34 Ryan Star M35-39 4:25:02 3
35 Nicolas Shellhammer M35-39 4:26:18 3
36 Stephen Gould M25-29 4:26:28 3
37 Ryan Teshima M25-29 4:26:40 3
38 Tyler Woodward M30-34 4:26:41 3
39 Daniel Emmanuel Gamino Anguiano M18-24 4:26:45 3
40 Jordan Nichols M45-49 4:27:55 3
41 Marcus Lounello M35-39 4:28:10 3
42 Alexandre Campino M35-39 4:28:11 3
43 Anton Komarov M35-39 4:28:57 2
44 Rafael Moraes M40-44 4:29:19 2
45 William Reid M30-34 4:29:30 2
46 Brendan Murray M25-29 4:29:33 2
47 Justin Spence M18-24 4:29:38 2
48 Vinicius Pelissari M25-29 4:29:39 2
49 Will Kelsey M30-34 4:30:52 2
50 Tyler McGinnis M35-39 4:31:00 2
51 Peter Clements M35-39 4:31:00 2
52 Danny Syrkin M18-24 4:31:05 2
53 Nelson Alexander Doleman M35-39 4:31:29 1
54 Jeffrey Krotche M18-24 4:31:31 1
55 Carlos Rojas M40-44 4:31:33 1
56 Kevin Stumpf M35-39 4:31:38 1

Men's age groupers who beat the most pros

Athlete AG Time Pros Beaten
Reed LeggM18-244:01:1520
Sigurd ElvestadM18-244:03:0816
Arthur BensonM25-294:07:0611
Nathan KimM18-244:08:169
Addy EppM18-244:09:098
Tom De BruynM40-444:09:368
Hippolyte ColinM25-294:09:488
Pedro Gomes*M40-444:10:188
Liam KennedyM18-244:10:358
Christian OakleyM25-294:12:267

* Ex-professional — Pedro Gomes is a former IRONMAN champion (Ironman Sweden 2013) and four-time Kona qualifier who now races as an age grouper. Also.. Please let me know if I missed anyone else that used to race in the pro ranks.

OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: An aerial view of competitors during the swim portion of the 2026 IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside on March 28, 2026 in Oceanside, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images for IRONMAN)

What Does This Mean?

Let’s be clear – this isn’t the first, or last, time this has, or will occur, and some of these pro’s just had really off days. But, still, the numbers are big. And it does lead to some questions I have.

First, as the depth of age group triathlon continues to grow. The athletes at the front of age group fields are legitimately fast — fast enough that the line between amateur and professional is thinner than it’s ever been. So what will that mean moving forward.

Second, the women’s pro field at Oceanside was deep at the top (Knibb, Solveig Løvseth, Jackie Hering, Audrey Merle, Sif Bendix Madsen, etc.), but had a long tail. When 70 age-group women finish ahead of at least one pro, it raises the question of what the pro card really means.

Third — and this isn’t about beating pros, it’s about racing with them and this does sort of combine 1 and 2 alittle — as age-group athletes starting behind the professional waves they are dealing with traffic, positioning and pacing dynamics that affect their races, and that’s also likely affecting the pro’s race, too. For example 422 age group males passed pro women on the bike. Clearly that will affect that race. (Also another topic for later)

As these things aren’t going away anytime soon, It will be interesting to see how these Ironman will address any of these things they see as challenges and also what category these athletes will race under later. Some of them have been winning age group titles for a long time with ZERO desire to go pro while others take the first chance they can to be called a “Professional Triathlete”. Until then it’s pretty rad to see just how fast some of these athletes are moving to that finish line. Are you one of these athletes? Let us know what yours plans are? Going pro? Or are you going to continue to collect age group titles.

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Shouldn’t you mention the different rules of pro athletes versus age-groupers? AG’ers are racing 12 meters not 20 meters…

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What should happen, is pros who get beat have their pro license removed, and roll down to the AG racers for the taking

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Getting a pro card for any of the age groupers is NOT an issue.. #clearly

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This is not that surprising… This has been going on for years. Maybe more now than before, idk… That said you have the 12 vs 20m rule. Also, race officials are likely to ‘officiate’ the pro race more.. AG might be a draft fest at times. In addition, many pros are ‘racing to win OR make money’ and if they have an off day, might just decide to shuffle in, or call it quits. Pro’s may pay less for races, and have more chances for redemption. Whereas AG can spend boatloads getting there. Also, I would not be surprised if some AGers do a cocktail of interesting performance enhancing ‘therapies’. For example I could see people with a good amount of $$$ and ‘Low T’ going to their local clinic / Doctor for some ‘prescriptions’, etc… I remember hearing about some well-to-do folks a decade ago doing such things. Not sure how well in AG sport that is tested currenty…. And, I actually have a conflicted opinion on whether or not that should even be tested as we’d all have to spend more money to essentially test rat racers…

In addition, keep in mind that low level pros may be forced to wear / use inferior equipment whereas AGers can buy whatever works better for them….. And, then there is of course the fact that some AGers are just better, but don’t want to turn pro because it isn’t easier being a pro and perhaps other prospects in life regarding how one earns a living is just better…

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Or alternatively, getting a pro card should more difficult and this all goes away. :slight_smile:

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This. It all went downhill when they added the USAT points criteria.

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I posted this on the PTN thread since they cover the topic as well, but for IM the solution is just to impose a filter. Cap the number of starters and then use the non Pro Series races as a way to filter the lower tier athletes

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Currently the filter is “enter before the start list fills up”, which isn’t difficult to achieve for anybody professional. New ideas like priority start list access, strikes/allowances for weak results, pool swim TTs, gateway races etc just add a hoop that only weaker pros need to jump through. A simple world ranking filter that considers all the races would be enough. Why add new rules that favour existing pros or have in-built exceptions? Let’s not make it like short-course where you need a 2min 200m pool time and 9min 3k run to get in but then you’re along for the ride with a salary and a bike. It’s hard enough on pennies and a part time job without having to prove something extra that the top pros don’t. I swear some people just want to see borderline AG/Pro folk struggle

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World ranking works too. Basically anything that does a quick filter of ‘are you in the top x athletes to apply?’

Though world ranking has the disadvantage of creating another new system - we already have PTO, PTN, and the Pro Series. IM would have to create another ranking, one which presumably favours their races.

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In many cases, a pro card only means that somebody filed the relevant paperwork, nothing more. Some federations have specific performance requirements for who can get a pro card. Others don’t and will give a pro card to anyone who asks, because they don’t see it as their job to play gatekeeper for private race organizers like Ironman.

Won’t happen. If Ironman wants to limit who can race as pro in their races, they will have to do that themselves. The chances that all national federations suddenly agree that they should do it for them is pretty much nil.

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Or alternatively World Triathlon creates a global standard.

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Kristen Radtke here! (I was the 10th overall female age grouper at Oceanside on Saturday.) True confessions: I created a SlowTwitch account today just so I could reply to this thread on my flight home from San Diego to Madison! :slight_smile:

First of all, thank you for this article calling out some of the challenges of the overlapping elite amateur and pro field, while also acknowledging the insane speed of the top pros at this race. I’m on the edge of my saddle waiting to see what (if anything) Ironman does to address this “Rise of The Elite Amateur” racer profile, and the rather pro-like racing dynamics that elite amateur athletes create amongst themselves (especially the top 3 to 5 men and women) at competitive 70.3 races. Personally, I’m routing for a new “elite amateur” category to emerge in Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races; I’d cast my vote for qualification standards (Ironman’s “All World Athlete” gold status would work just fine), non-rolling starts that allow for “real” racing dynamics among these highly competitive athletes, and the same drafting / equipment rules as the pro field.

As someone who has been trying to claw my way to a pro card for years now but not able to attain it (despite multiple top ten 70.3 AG finishes at this point), all I can say is, “It’s actually not that easy to get your pro card, especially if you try to do it through the route of a Top 3 Amateur Female Finish at an Elite Qualifying Race (EQR) like Oceanside, and you’re not trying to play the game of ‘How do I go collect USAT points at skewed, non-competitve races to get my pro card in the easiest way possible.’ ”

I feel like attaining a pro card through the EQR pathway is still VERY hard in no small part because–as this past weekend’s results demonstrate–here are some facts about the top elite amateur women at a race like Oceanside: 1) They are training like pros (often while having full-time jobs in non-triathlon careers, being moms, or both), 2) They have the mindset of wanting to get better and better at the sport (just like pros), and they work diligently at it for years, 3) Objectively, they’re FAST. (I know, because I tried to be up there in the top 3 on Saturday, and got my ass handed to me by not one, not two, but SEVEN other women.)

Conclusion: The fact that the top 3 amateur women at Oceanside had stronger race performances than a fair amount of existing pros, to me, doesn’t prove that those pros “don’t deserve” to be pros. Those pros earned their status, after all, through years of dedicated training and racing, and they’re allowed to have a bad day (or a bad season!) without people calling for their pro license to be revoked. (I’d also be willing to bet that if you interviewed all of the pros who got beat by amateur racers on Saturday, a lot of them would tell you that they aren’t thrilled about how their race shook out.) I respect those women and what they had to do to earn their pro cards in the first place. I’m telling you emphatically from the inside of the experience, it is not that easy to do.

What we should conclude, instead, from what we just saw at Oceanside in both the pro field and the amateur field is: 1) “Holy sh*t this sport is getting fast,” and 2) "The increasing pro-level performances from the ‘elite amateur’ field may require some rethinking on the part of USAT about pro qualification standards, but certainly merits some rethinking on the part of Ironman about how to handle the categorization and race experiences of these pro-ish, non-pro athletes.”

P.S. Requesting a journalistic revision: EW, could you please add my name to the list of women who beat the most female pros?! I think I finished ahead of…5 (?), and you listed two people ahead of me who finished ahead of 2. Thanks!

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Completely agree, needs to be MUCH harder to become “pro”. From my experience listening and talking with people many people do this as it’s much “cheaper” to race as a pro. Funny enough I coach quite a few of these people in the list above that “beat” pros. Almost all have no desire of going pro. At quick glance (not putting much thought into this) if you can’t break 4:00 at 70.3 Oceanside should you really be pro? End rant.

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An “open” or “elite amateur” wave is what a lot of my guys talk about! (Obvi this is super fun to think & talk about but likely nothing will happen hahah)

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I will get this fixed. Welcome to the forum. we are glad to have you.

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Welcome. Great post.

I fully agree with you that there should be an elite wave at IM events, but I don’t see it ever happening because I don’t think it helps their bottom line at all and that’s all they care about.

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Welcome to the forum! It’s great to hear your perspective. When I say “easy” it’s this comment. Every person I know who really isn’t of professional caliber and or is clearly already aged out who earned their pro card did so at a local random sanctioned USAT race that they stumbled into on the day when no one showed up or they cherry picked. I should have made that clear in my initial post. USAT needs to be more considered in what events have that qualifying criteria and acknowledge these non IM branded races that may have beed super competitive in the past simply aren’t anymore. I also now see in the women’s list my good friend Ashley Anderson who beat 4 women pro’s with a 5 hour race and was 4th in W35-39. It’s a fantastic result for her but not one that would ever make her consider going “pro”. If she was winning her AG at that age at every big race that would be a different consideration.

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I know! We can keep dreamin’ for it, though! Until then, I’m just gonna keep showing up and swimming and biking and running and then getting to the finish line going, “So! What’s the tracker app say?! How’d I do!?”

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I mostly agree, but am going to take a little different tack here. Now “on the day” you are going to have a good % of the pro field have many different obstacles. Some mechanicals, some racing a bit sick, and some just blow up and trudge in to finish. It seems now we are going to lambast and embarrass those folks for toughing it out on a tough day for them?? I mean there are dozens of threads over the years crucifying pros for quitting bad day races, and heralding them for toughing it out and finishing, this is the opposite of that. When Jan blew his leg out in Kona but limped in to finish(and many, many examples of this), are we now to promote and congratulate all the age groupers who beat him that day?

And couching the AG race as an easier one than the pros is just silly and not true. How many races have we watched and seen the 30 to 80 person packs, riding like a bike race peloton? That alone can make a race 5 to 15 minutes faster for an AG’er. And I’m not saying “every” AG’er does this, some men ride off the front and race just like the pros do, but they are the rare instance, not the norm. Women are surrounded by men, even the best of them, so completely different race from the pro ladies.

And we see this all the time when a top AG;er moves up, and they even tell us that story of how much harder racing in the pro field is. We also have to keep in mind that in these Ironman events there are a lot of foreign pros, where in their countries it is gobs easier to get a pro card. So there is that dynamic.

But in theory I do agree with you, on a good day a male pro should at least be ahead of the top female pro winner, but lets not denigrate the ones not having that good day, and doing what most consider to be valiant, finishing what they started in spite of abnormal circumstances in their day..

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