Mirinda Carfrae wins Ironman Muskoka 70.3; James Seear takes 4th

In the sleepy tourist town of Huntsville in Ontario, Canada, Mirinda Carfrae notched up her third Muskoka 70.3 win. Carfrae returned to the Muskoka region to get a final hit out in her preparation for the Ironman World Championships – a formula which worked well in both 2009 and 2010.

Out of the water in 7th, Carfrae rode a solid second-best 2:40 on the hilly 94km course – one of the toughest on the 70.3 circuit – to set herself up in a good position heading into T2.

Carfrae then tore off the front, running a dominating 1:18 half marathon to take the win ahead of Canadian Rachel McBride, who was second at the ITU Long-Distance Worlds earlier this year.

Also avoiding the Vegas spotlight was perenial Kona favourite Andreas Raelert. This was Raelert’s first venture at Muskoka, a favourite pre-Kona stomping ground of Craig Alexander. The German had a solid hit out, but was well beaten by local pro Lionel Sanders.

American Gavin Andersen, Aussie James Seear and Kiwi Tom Davison led the men’s field out of the pristine fresh water lake with low-23-minute swims, giving them almost a minute over Raelert and the main pack. Sanders, out of the drink a couple of minutes back, rode a stomping 2:20 split and put himself 5-minutes ahead of Raelert coming into T2.

Not done there, Sanders blitzed the run course with a race-best 1:10:58 rounding out an amazing performance to cross the line in 4:01:20. Raelert clocked a very solid 1:12 run to take second in 4:07:20.

Queenslander James Seear had a consistent day, combining a 2nd-best swim, 3rd-best bike and 4th-best run to take 4th overall in 4:15, a couple of minutes behind Kiwi Tom Davison, who took the final podium spot on the back of a solid swim-bike performance.

‘I tried to conserve on the bike to run quicker’, Seear told TriZone after the race.

Unfortunately, poor pacing and the hills of region spoiled Seear’s plans.

‘I ran  the first half too quick and the hills at half way killed me. If it is was a flat run I would have been okay. Another good learning experience.’