Brent McMahon and Amy Farrell dominate at Ironman Lake Placid

Incredibly affable age grouper Amy Farrell ran to victory at Lake Placid again after a hiatus in 2016, while Brent McMahon smashed the course record by a whole 9 minutes. Here’s how the picturesque Lake Placid Ironman played out. Lake Placid Triathlon Men’s Results 2017 James Capparell dominated the

Brent McMahon and Amy Farrell dominate at Ironman Lake Placid

Incredibly affable age grouper Amy Farrell ran to victory at Lake Placid again after a hiatus in 2016, while Brent McMahon smashed the course record by a whole 9 minutes. Here’s how the picturesque Lake Placid Ironman played out.

Lake Placid Triathlon Men’s Results 2017

James Capparell dominated the men’s swim, with TJ Tollakson and Andy Pots right behind. Canadian Brent McMahon was in in fifth place at the first transition, 12 seconds behind Capparell.

As the men flew through the first transition, McMahon had his head down ready to recover some time. Tollakson had maintained his lead in the early part of the bike leg, but by the 100 mile mark, McMahon had risen through the ranks and overtook the American Tollakson to make his way to the front of the pack. From there, McMahon dug his heels in and flew through the bike course with the race best 4:35:25 bike split.

Tollakson and Potts chase the Canadian

As T2 loomed, Tollakson was chasing hard with a 1:06 gap between himself and the leader, with Andy Potts 1:42 behind McMahon in third place. After such a powerful bike leg, McMahon may have been tipped to tire, but he found even more energy and powered away into the marathon. By the 3rd mile, McMahon had established a huge 4 minute lead on Andy Potts, and a 5 minute lead on Tollakson.

As the runners neared the hallway mark in the run leg, McMahon had established a 6:54 lead on Potts and a whopping 26:14 lead on Justin Daerr. Behind them after a formidable race though, Tollakson fell out of the top 10.

Nearing the end of the marathon, McMahon was well and truly clear of his rivals, with a huge 24 minute lead on Andy Potts, obliterating the previous course record by more than 9 minutes.

  1. Brent McMahon (CAN) 8:13:53
  2. Andy Potts (USA) 8:37:46
  3. Justin Daerr (USA) 8:45:40

Lake Placid Triathlon Women’s Results 2017

Last year’s Ironman Lake Placid was for pros only, but in 2017 age groupers were welcomed back to the event much like previous years. Amy Farrell had won in 2015, and as she hadn’t competed in 2016, she was excited to get back to her favourite Ironman course where she was cheered on by countless family members.

Family vacation turns into Ironman win

“Part of me was a little nervous because I signed up for the race just to have a little family vacation in Lake Placid. My coach was out there, I have eight teammates racing, two athletes that I coach were racing, and they went out there happy and positive, so I’m pretty psyched,” Farell told Adirondack Daily Enterprise.

The women’s swim was fast, almost too fast. “My first lap in the swim was fast so I just went with it, and then I came through on the bike really fast and got a little nervous. But my power was looking good, my heart rate was good, so I just went with it, and then I was excited to hand the bike off and start running”

Farrell was in second place at T2, and had her work cut out for her until the marathon began. With the excitement of seeing her family, she flew through T2 and was almost alarmed at how fast she took off in the run.

“I went out way too fast on the run, but I kind of took my time that last 4 miles,” she continued. “I get excited going down Mill Hill. That first part is downhill. I think I ran the first 5k under 20 minutes.” Coming from behind, Farrell set up her lead early in the race and maintained it to the end.

Crowd and family cheers spurred Farrell to victory

“I always get excited to come into town and see my family. My parents were hiding in different places and [my daughter] Ruby was hiding in different places,” she said.

With a smile on her face in almost every photo taken from the event, Amy Farrell is the happiest victor of the event. “The conditions were great, the crowd is always awesome, the aid stations are super-helpful,” she said. “It’s just Lake Placid. Coming through town, there’s tears in your eyes. It’s as good as Kona.”

  1. Amy Farrell 09:46:00
  2. Jacqui Giuliano 10:02:41
  3. Robyn Hardage 10:02:50

Trizone wishes to congratulate Amy and Brent on their impressive race results.