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Ironman Arizona 2015 – Analyzing Results

Race Conditions

As usual IM Arizona was very quick, especially on the bike: A bike adjustment of 20:25 was the main contributor to an overall adjustment of 22:52, the quickest in Arizona so far. Even with the great conditions, the two new bike course records by Andy Starykowicz (4:03:35) and Meredith Kessler (4:42:13) are great performances.

Conditions on the run were a bit different this year: With rain and cold temperatures there were not too many “explosions” but some athletes were shivering and having trouble keeping their temperature up. But the effect on times was quite low, at least for the Pro athletes as they only hit the rain once they were on the run. (Different than in Whistler this year when the rain hit the Pro field at the start of the bike and a lot of athletes struggled with hypothermia.)

Male Race Results

As expected Andy Starykowicz took the lead shortly after T1 and dominated the bike leg with a 4:03:35, improving on Jordan Rapp’s bike record by more than ten minutes. Andy now has the three fastest Ironman bike legs (4:02:17 Florida 13, 4:03 Arizona 15 and 4:04 Florida 12). He had an almost 13 minute lead into T2. He was running well for the first half of the marathon, but Lionel Sanders was eating into his lead. When Andy struggled around mile 17 and had to walk for a bit, Lionel took the lead and won the race with a sub-8 finish time. Brent McMahon had the best marathon of the day and finished in second place, securing his Kona slot for next October. TJ Tollakson took the last spot on the podium, he also managed to overtake Andy shortly before the finish. Jordan Rapp wasn’t fresh enough after Kona a few weeks ago and took fifth place.

Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Time Diff to expected Prize Money
1 Lionel Sanders CAN 00:54:04 04:13:38 02:47:07 07:58:22 -17:05 US$ 20000
2 Brent McMahon CAN 00:47:08 04:23:32 02:46:25 08:00:57 06:39 US$ 10000
3 TJ Tollakson USA 00:49:14 04:16:23 02:54:45 08:04:17 -13:23 US$ 6500
4 Andrew Starykowicz USA 00:49:12 04:03:35 03:09:04 08:05:56 -10:10 US$ 4000
5 Jordan Rapp USA 00:52:34 04:15:49 02:55:28 08:08:05 00:42 US$ 3000
6 Maik Twelsiek GER 00:49:17 04:18:25 03:01:15 08:12:55 -05:06 US$ 2000
7 Kevin Collington USA 00:49:14 04:29:32 02:53:51 08:16:25 n/a US$ 1500
8 David Plese SLO 00:53:28 04:25:50 02:53:21 08:17:06 -01:27 US$ 1250
9 Jonathan Shearon USA 00:53:49 04:21:12 03:01:16 08:20:55 -08:18 US$ 1000
10 David Naesvik SWE 00:54:22 04:26:09 03:04:28 08:29:04 -07:30 US$ 750
11 Marko Albert EST 00:47:06 04:24:38 03:14:43 08:29:46 15:31  
12 Bryan McCrystal IRL 01:02:54 04:16:34 03:07:14 08:30:50 -20:15  
13 Matic Modic SLO 00:55:54 04:27:45 03:05:43 08:33:54 -04:31  
14 Miguel Fidalgo Rossell ESP 00:49:16 04:29:52 03:16:33 08:39:37 19:41  
15 Dirk Wijnalda NED 00:59:14 04:31:59 03:05:38 08:40:38 06:26  
16 James Chesson USA 00:57:24 04:37:16 03:06:08 08:45:27 -04:13  
17 Jesse Vondracek USA 00:55:48 04:35:58 03:09:59 08:45:54 -16:43  
18 Jozsef Major HUN 00:57:43 04:32:09 03:13:09 08:47:57 16:48  
19 Colin Laughery USA 01:00:27 04:37:56 03:08:16 08:52:33 03:05  
20 Dylan Gleeson CAN 00:53:53 04:43:47 03:11:05 08:52:50 -19:55  
21 Mike Schifferle SUI 01:02:45 04:33:02 03:11:08 08:53:59 14:57  
22 Douglas MacLean USA 00:57:30 04:48:40 03:06:58 08:58:39 01:38  
23 Jordan Bryden CAN 00:49:26 04:51:22 03:16:38 09:02:10 -19:29  
24 Patrick Bless GER 00:56:25 04:56:27 03:04:36 09:03:01 01:13  
25 Brent Mcburney USA 00:57:24 04:48:35 03:14:41 09:04:57 -1:07:05  
26 Derek Lantz CAN 01:00:29 04:57:00 03:04:17 09:06:41 n/a  
27 Gilian Oriet SUI 00:56:20 04:48:52 03:20:07 09:10:33 -28:20  
28 Elmar Heger GER 00:54:18 04:43:53 03:39:38 09:22:31 -16:08  
29 Anthony Toth CAN 00:57:40 04:46:25 03:34:19 09:24:38 25:03  
30 Nathan Dressel USA 01:00:16 05:06:00 03:36:42 09:48:24 n/a  
31 Mario Radevic GER 01:08:35 04:52:16 03:49:39 09:55:28 04:49  
32 Joe Umphenour USA 00:49:05 04:42:54 05:35:50 11:12:42 1:47:26  
33 Arland Macasieb PHI 01:09:54 06:12:30 04:08:50 12:14:52 1:22:28  
  Matthew Russell USA 00:56:37 04:21:18   DNF  
  Raymond Botelho USA 00:55:51 04:23:50   DNF  
  Thomas Gerlach USA 00:53:36 04:26:45   DNF  
  Drew Scott USA 00:49:07 04:34:24   DNF  
  Christopher Bagg USA 00:53:52 04:32:28   DNF  
  Lewis Elliot USA 00:54:16 04:39:23   DNF  
  Andrew Fast USA 00:59:26 04:44:57   DNF  
  Karl Bordine USA 01:03:00 04:46:08   DNF  
  Reinaldo De Oliveira BRA 01:04:23 05:09:15   DNF  
  Daniel Herlbauer AUT 00:53:48     DNF  
  Felipe De Oliveira Manente BRA 00:54:15     DNF  
  Robert Duncan USA 01:01:20     DNF  
  James Lubinski USA 01:07:47     DNF  

Female Race Results

The female race was dominated by three athletes who wanted to end the year on a high note after not so good races in Kona: Meredith Kessler finished but was the last female Pro finisher – in Tempe we saw a different Meredith defend her title from last year. She posted the best swim and bike legs (and a new bike course record), leading by more than ten minutes in T2. She then went on to have a solid second best marathon and won with a new personal best Ironman time of 8:44:00. Second place went to Amanda Stevens who made after an uncharacteristic slow swim had a good bike leg and was the only one running faster than Meredith. Amanda’s 8:52:31 is also an Ironman PR for her and the first time she was able to finish under 9 hours. Julia Gajer had a good swim and bike but then had to work on the run for her third place finish. Darby Roberts had a great tun to finish fourth, and Michelle Vesterby was too tired after Kona to finish better than fifth but is now also safe for Kona 2016.

Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Time Diff to expected Prize Money
1 Meredith Kessler USA 00:48:25 04:42:13 03:08:58 08:44:00 -14:51 US$ 20000
2 Amanda Stevens USA 00:51:07 04:50:10 03:06:39 08:52:31 -18:50 US$ 10000
3 Julia Gajer GER 00:51:05 04:52:06 03:15:06 09:03:15 10:58 US$ 6500
4 Darbi Roberts USA 00:51:41 04:56:59 03:12:00 09:05:10 -15:28 US$ 4000
5 Michelle Vesterby DEN 00:52:52 04:54:34 03:19:45 09:11:31 13:33 US$ 3000
6 Mackenzie Madison USA 00:56:22 04:54:43 03:16:23 09:13:13 -08:51 US$ 2000
7 Melanie McQuaid CAN 00:56:12 04:51:28 03:22:40 09:14:14 06:10 US$ 1500
8 Michaela Herlbauer AUT 00:54:50 05:06:09 03:09:43 09:14:59 06:18 US$ 1250
9 Christina Jackson USA 00:51:11 04:57:21 03:22:26 09:15:32 -18:57 US$ 1000
10 Camilla Lindholm SWE 01:07:12 04:53:56 03:20:33 09:26:12 05:57 US$ 750
11 Christine Fletcher CAN 00:57:46 04:59:41 03:32:19 09:35:54 -12:08  
12 Caroline Martineau CAN 01:01:05 05:09:36 03:19:32 09:37:18 -46:06  
13 Neilia Bliss USA 01:00:55 05:10:33 03:28:10 09:45:37 -12:51  
14 Sarah Graves USA 01:09:40 05:07:13 03:29:50 09:53:46 09:11  
15 Richele Frank CAN 01:11:02 05:07:07 03:33:07 10:01:23 -13:53  
16 Rahel Bellinga NED 01:02:48 05:00:16 03:53:54 10:03:25 -05:24  
17 Kathryn King GBR 01:05:07 05:18:08 03:41:05 10:10:26 -20:26  
18 Hayley Benson USA 01:00:44 05:27:53 03:41:11 10:17:04 n/a  
19 Cori Burnett USA 00:57:37 05:28:50 03:50:39 10:27:40 -17:54  
20 Katy Cargiulo USA 01:01:56 05:39:16 03:40:45 10:29:09 01:29  
21 Kara Lapoint USA 01:06:41 05:43:38 03:56:45 10:57:55 n/a  
22 Lauren Thompson USA 01:02:28 05:28:58 04:20:47 11:00:53 n/a  
23 Ali Black USA 01:07:18 05:17:42 05:11:52 11:43:17 1:28:16  
  Amber Ferreira USA 00:57:41 05:03:06   DNF  
  Sarah Jarvis USA 00:57:38 05:10:16   DNF  
  Laurel Wassner USA 00:55:42 05:15:04   DNF  
  Carrie Mccoy USA 01:21:33 05:46:24   DNF  
  Sarah Haskins USA 00:48:29     DNF  
  Lisa Roberts USA 01:02:48     DNF  
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