Race Conditions
The conditions on race were so hard that they resulted in very slow finishing times. In fact they were so slow that my “normal” calculation methods didn’t work. (Usually I only look at athletes within half an hour of their expected finish times to calculate the race adjustment. This time there were only two athletes which would have resulted in an inappropriate adjustment.) After some fiddling around, I ended up with an adjustment of –36:48, meaning that the finishing times were more than half an hour slower compared to a “neutral” course (such as IM Hawaii). This is the lowest number I have ever seen – and it will probably stay that way for quite some time. But as this is the last time that St. George was run as a full Ironman, we will not be able to see if this year’s results were a fluke or typical of the conditions in Utah.
Male Results
On the men’s side, Ben Hoffman won the race on the run:
Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Actual Time Expected Time 1 Ben Hoffman USA 00:52:44 05:10:01 03:01:24 09:07:04 09:25:07 2 Maik Twelsiek GER 00:52:42 05:10:35 03:18:23 09:25:58 09:17:45 3 Axel Zeebroek BEL 00:51:22 05:26:52 03:12:53 09:35:33 09:28:58 4 Thomas Gerlach 00:59:19 05:33:54 03:12:14 09:49:00 10:43:39 5 Matthew Sheeks USA 01:04:09 05:48:41 02:55:37 09:52:03 10:00:58 6 Ernst Moser AUT 01:04:52 06:45:00 03:16:58 10:04:07 09:43:34 7 Adam O’Meara CAN 00:58:47 05:51:26 03:13:44 10:08:10 10:15:40 8 Jesse Vondracek USA 00:58:47 06:06:57 03:20:21 10:29:36 10:10:32 9 Mike Schifferle SWI 01:04:31 06:30:15 03:13:28 10:54:44 09:47:38 10 Heath Thurston USA 00:51:18 06:24:25 03:45:13 11:07:34 10:46:54
Maik Twelsiek finished the bike together with Ben Hoffman, but then had to let him go on the run, Chris MacDonald even had to “pull the pin” on the run and DNF’d, leaving the last place on the podium for Axel Zeebroek.
Female Results
On the female side, “MBK” lead the race from wire to wire in a very convincing fashion, almost posting the fastest times on each of the segments:
Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Actual Time Expected Time 1 Meredith Kessler USA 00:52:42 05:57:14 03:18:23 10:12:59 10:16:41 2 Jessie Donavan USA 01:18:51 05:55:24 03:18:58 10:37:30 10:18:28 3 Uli Bromme USA 01:09:10 06:10:21 03:29:40 10:53:20 10:43:21 4 Gillian Clayton 01:34:00 06:20:12 03:15:13 11:15:38 n/a 5 Erin Spitler 01:19:37 06:07:22 03:45:30 11:16:42 11:05:07 6 Erin Young 01:09:11 06:56:04 03:40:01 11:52:35 n/a