Despite her many successes in both Ironman and 70.3 distance races, Heather Wurtele had some unfinished business at the North American Ironman 70.3 Championship in St. George, Utah.
カナダのヘザー、5/2開催のアイアンマン70.3セントジョージでサーベロP5に乗り見事優勝。昨年のハワイアイアンマンでは、15位だった。バイク終了時は、ミリンダよりも速いが、ランが伸びなかったが、十分トップ10を狙える選手。ミリンダとは、対照的に長身の選手で年齢は35歳、今年のハワイアイアンマンは勝負となるだろう。現在のポイントランキングも9位と上位に位置している。
トライアスロン最強バイクP5: http://triathlon-geronimo.com/?p=136
アイアンマン使用率10年No.1： http://triathlon-geronimo.com/?p=236
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Despite her many successes in both Ironman and 70.3 distance races, Heather Wurtele had some unfinished business at the North American Ironman 70.3 Championship in St. George, Utah.
Heather, along with husband and fellow pro triathlete Trevor, has spent a lot of time in St. George training. In fact the area has adopted the couple as two of the local favourites in the race each year. She won the race as a full in both 2010 and 2011 and owns the women’s course record at the full Ironman distance. However, she had not registered a win since the race, known as one of the most challenging courses, was changed to the 70.3 format and named as the US Pro Championship. In 2015, the race became the North American Championships allowing the fast Canadian to be eligible for the title.
On top of the significance that the race holds for Heather, she was also coming off two consecutive second place finishes. While this is an impressive result, Heather wants to win. According Heather, “I really wanted to win, but, frankly, that’s how I feel going into most races! The fact that it was the North American Championships, that the field was deep with talent, and that I placed 2nd in my first two races of the season definitely upped the stakes for me, however.”
Obviously, Heather was motivated. And, come race day, she showed it. She finished the swim with the second pack and lead the chase aboard her P5. “Can you remember how it felt when you were a kid, and you just LOVED your bike, and were super excited every time you hopped on it? That’s pretty much how I always feel when I get to ride my P5.”
Heather reduced a three and a half minute deficit to under two minutes by the second transition and posted the fastest bike split for the pro women’s field. She then ran herself into the race lead, for the first time, at mile 8 and could not be matched on the run to the finish line. Heather added a field-topping run to the fastest bike split to win in a time of 4:17:58.
“I just tried to stay in the moment all day on race day, and perform my best each step of the way. I really only let those thoughts of winning wash over me in the finish chute!”
It was amazing to watch Heather win her home away from home race and be surprised by Trevor holding the finishing tape. Congratulations Team Wurtele on capturing the North American Ironman 70.3 title!
Triathlon “ MONO ” Journalist Nobutaka Otsuka