Mirinda Carfrae wins Ironman Calgary 70.3 Triathlon and Paul Matthews Third

The second edition of the Viterrra Ironman 70.3 Calgary saw cool and wet conditions here in the western province of Alberta.

In the women’s race we had Australian Mirinda Carfrae, the 2008 Foster Grant Ironman 70.3 Champion and 2009 Viterrra Ironman 70.3 Calgary champion; two-time Ironman champion Heather Wurtele; and, fresh off her Ironman Coeur d’Alene win, Linsey Corbin as the “head liners.” They lived up to their billing.

Canadian, Tenille Hoogland, now living in Austin, Texas surprise many as she exited the water with a 2:20 advantage over Carfrae and Wurtele. Corbin put herself out of contention as she hit the beach down over 2:00 to Carfrae and Wurtele.

The eventual winner of the men’s race, New Zealand’s Kieran Doe, had recently arrived in Canada in preparation for his attempt to win Subaru Ironman Canada later this month. With Viterrra Ironman 70.3 Calgary so close to where he is training, the race was a natural to enter and act as a gauge to see where his fitness was at.

In the men’s race, Doe exited the swim with a chase pack of four and was in the company of Canadian Jon Bird, USA’s Kyle Leto and  Paul Matthews of Australia. All were well within striking distance, just under 10 seconds off the pace the eventual swim leader, Brian Fleischmann.

Exiting the water the Kiwi made quick work of surging to the front and took command of the race. Under light rain and cool conditions on the bike, Doe continually put time into his pursuers.

Doe started the 21 kilometre run with the knowledge that he had a 3:44 advantage over his closet rival, Australian Paul Matthews and quickly settled into a controlled pace over the challenging run course. During the early stages of the run Doe experienced a rough patch that saw Fleischmann pull himself back into the race. Fleischmann and had clawed back 2:00 on the leader on the first loop, but Doe recovered in the last half the run hold of the hard charging Fleischmann.