Podium for Andreas Raelert at Ironman 70.3 St. George
Andreas Raelert started into the 2015 season with a third-place-finish at the Ironman 70.3 St. George in Utah, USA. The field was absolutely excellent at the Ironman 70.3 North American Pro Championship, and the German was able to run onto the podium in the final half-marathon. Tim Don from Great Britain won the race in Utah in 3:51:56. Don had been third at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship previous year. Canadian Brent McMahon secured second place in St. George (3:53:22), he crossed the line just seconds ahead of Andreas Raelert. The Rostockian followed in 3:53:39 in third place in a very close finish, he was only 17 seconds behind the strong Canadian Brent McMahon.
“Overall, I am satisfied with my first race of the season. It was exactly the tough season opener it had expected. Tim Don and Brent McMahon have shown strong performances throughout the whole race.”
said Andreas Raelert after his podium-finish.
From the beginning of the swim distance of 1.9 kilometers, a lead group of about a dozen athletes formed in the Sand Hollow Reservoir. Andreas Raelert came out of the water in sixth position after 23:11 minutes, one second ahead of the former Olympic-distance World Champion Tim Don.
“On the bike, it was very fast right from the start – unfortunately I missed the fastest guys.“
said Andreas Raelert.
After 2:39:58 race time, Andreas Raelert came off the bike. At this point, he was already 4:07 minutes behind the leader, Brent McMahon. Andreas Raelert was back in 10th place.
He started fast into the final half-marathon, and he early began to pass one athlete after another. On his way to the podium, he caught up with previous year’s Kona runner-up Ben Hoffman (USA) and 2013’s Kona runner-up Luke McKenzie (Australia). In 1:12:42 Andreas Raelert had the fastest run of the day.
After about 15 kilometers, Andreas Raelert made it into third place and he made up more time on Brent McMahon. “On the last two kilometers I came closer and closer, but in the end it was not quite enough for second place.” Andreas Raelert could be happy with his run.
“All in all, it was a successful test for Ironman Texas“.
Andreas concluded after the race.
On May 16th, Andreas Raelert will race the Ironman North American Championship in Texas in order to collect as many qualification points as possible for the Ironman World Championship on October 10th in Hawaii.
In the female race, Mirinda Carfrae finished 8th. Timothy O’Donnell decided not to race this weekend in the end.