Ironman Lake Placid Results 2011

TJ Tollakson edges Ben Hoffman and heads the Ironman Lake Placid Results 2011. Canadian Heather Wurtele takes first for the pro women.

Sunday July 24, 2011 is the 13th running of the Lake Placid Ironman. It is the second oldest Ironman race North America.

It takes place in the backdrop of the stunning Adirondack's and when talking to many athletes who have taken part in this race, it is a very challenging course.

The swim takes place in Mirror Lake and most years the water is calm and well, "placid" but there have been years when the swim was challenging to say the least, but the long range forecast bodes well as far as inclement weather is concerned.

However there has been quite a heat wave going on in many parts of North America so possibly heat may play a role in Lake Placid on race day.

The swim is a two-lap, counter-clockwise course and includes crossing some beach before re-entering the water for lap number two.

Once leaving the water there is a short stretch of ground to cover in order to reach the swim/bike transition area.

The bike is also a two-loop course and is very challenging as the triathletes will be making their way through the Adirondack Mountains....twice.

Of course there is always the great scenery to enjoy out on the bike course.

The run course is pretty interesting in Ironman Lake Placid and it is certainly spectator friendly.

It is also a two-loop run course but the way it is set up brings the runners through town 4 times and that can be great for morale as friends and family get to cheer on their favorite triathlete.

The bike course may be hilly but the run course is flat and fast with a few rolling hills. It should offer some cooling effect as well when runners make their way along the shores of the lake.

SO WHO'S GOING TO WIN?

It really looks like Ben Hoffman is going to be very tough to beat.

He is all set to peak for this race and is coming off of wins in IRONMAN BOISE 70.3 2011 and in Muncie as well.

There is no doubt that he is in top form and ready to defend the title he won last year.

However Ben will really have to work for this win as there are a few multiple Ironman winners in this race who will be testing him.

Eduardo Sturla comes off a win in IRONMAN BRAZIL 2011 and he will also come into the race in great form.

Jason Shortis has won five Ironman titles in his career.

Luke Bell has several Ironman 70.3 victories to his credit and if he is ready to race he will could well end up somewhere on the podium.

My pick to win this race in a close duel with Ben Hoffman is TJ Tollakson. TJ already has a 3rd place finish in Ironman St.George and also had a win in the EAGLEMAN 70.3 2011

I am also happy to say that there are quite a few triathletes attempting their first Ironman In lake Placid who in one form or another have used Ironstruck as their guide and I will have them in my thoughts as I follow the action on Sunday July 24th.

There are no less than 1013 first time Ironman entrants in Lake Placid this year. Best of luck to all of them.

It's a large field that includes 696 Female and 2184 Males.

I can't believe the size of the mens 40-44 age group. There are 524 athletes in that group and it will be a well-eaned reward for those who manage to qualify for Kona out of this group.

There are 428 Canadians in the race and 265 of them are from Ontario.

This is a great story. Sam from Bradford Pennsylvania is 66 and will be doing IM Lake Placid with his son. Sam was in the Syracuse 70.3 in 2010 and was 3rd in his age-group.

Best of luck to Sam! What an accomplishment just to get to the start line of an Ironman Triathlon. Just maybe we will see Sam at the top of his age-group and he will get to go to Kona in the Fall!

THE PRO MENBen Hoffman Jason Shortis Luke Bell TJ Tollakson Torsten Abel Eduardo Sturla Logan Franks Tim Snow Raul Furtado Ryan Grant Arland Macasieb Mike Caiazzo Tyler Lord Mike Neill Chris Bagg Matthew Russell Holden Comeau John Hirsch Sergio Quezada Ruiz Raymond Botelho Dereck Treadwell Kyle Pawlaczyk Ryan Kelly Ian Mikelson Tom Eickelberg Ryan Cain Daniel Bretscher Ryan Bates

I have to admit that being Canadian, I will be cheering for Heather Wurtele on Sunday. The Lake Placid bike course should really favor Heather and I would not be surprised at all if Heather is leading coming out of the run transition.

Then it will come down to holding off the rest of the field for 26.2 miles.

Of course there is no guarantee Heather will be first coming off the bike with the likes of Tyler Stewart from the USA who had an amazing bike split at IRONMAN TEXAS 2011. Wow! Tyler went in 4:42:40.

It should really come down to Heather Wurtele and Tyler Stewart on the bike course.

However there are also several other very talented female pros who could make their mark in the Ironman Lake Placid results 2011.

Jackie Arendt also had a very good race in Ironman St. George and followed Heather Wurtele across the finish line.

THE PRO WOMENHeather Wurtele Tyler Stewart Amber Ferreira Jacqui Gordon Jackie Arendt Marie Danais Suzanne Zelazo Tine Deckers Miranda Alldritt

THE RACE

It's great to see that the really hot weather stayed away and temperatures should not be a factor in the race.

Water temperatures with be in the high 50?s to low 60?s which is about normal for Mirror Lake on Ironman day and the temperatures are forecast to stay in the high 60?s until noon before making it into the 70's.

There are few sporting moments that rival the mass swim start of an Ironman Triathlon and I sure hope all those novice Ironmen managed to stay clear of serious traffic problems.

THE TOP TEN MALE PROS IN THE SWIM1 Holden Comeau...............49:452 TJ Tollakson................50:373 Luke Bell...................50:394 Ian Mikelson................53:035 Ben Hoffman.................53:056 Sergio Quezada Ruiz.........53:567 Chris Bagg..................55:168 Daniel Bretscher............55:189 Euardo Sturla...............56:5110 John Hirsch................57:31

THE TOP TEN FEMALE PROS IN THE SWIM1 Heather Wurtele.............57:142 Jackie Arendt...............57:163 Tine Deckers................57:264 Amber Ferreira..............1:00:155 Suzanne Zelazo..............1:00:17

THE TOP FIVE FEMALE AGE-GROUPERS IN THE SWIMDanni Proenza.................47:15Marie-Andree Leblanc..........54:46Allyson Hamilton..............56:16Katelyn Kane..................56:20Lindsay Texter................56:34

THE TOP FIVE LOCAL MALE AGE-GROUPERS IN THE SWIMWilliam Frazer................1:13:01James Griffin.................1:13:02Michael Parker................1:14:50Matthew Young.................1:17:55Robert Morganson..............1:17:57

OUT ON THE BIKE COURSE

For the men it's TJ Tollakson and Luke Bell riding almost together with Ben Hoffman just waiting to pounce back in third place. In my earlier prediction from a few days ago I had picked TJ and Ben Hoffman to be fighting it out for the win today.

So far so good on that score, but still a long way to go.

In an unfortunate turn of events, Luke Bell has dropped out of the race. He has dealing with an illness prior to the race and gave it his best shot but was unable to continue.

At the same point on the course for the women it's Heather Wurtele, followed by Tine Deckers and Jackie Arendt. I also picked Canadian Heather Wurtele to win with strong performances expected by the two women who are currently 2nd and 3rd.

These images of TJ and Heather Wurtelle are courtesy of Ironman triathlon official site.

By the 50-mile mark Ben Hoffman is hot on the trail of Tj who maintains a lead of around 1:30.

At about the 50-mile mark Tine Deckers passed Heather Wurtele, but Heather didn't like that much and passed her back and is soon back in the lead by just over a minute.

By the 90-mile mark TJ is forging ahead and maintains a 3:08 lead on Ben Hoffman.

At this point the top four men looked like this...

TJ followed by Ben Hoffman with Argentina's Eduardo Sturla 20:40 back in 3rd and Holden Comeau at 24:11 back holding down fourth place. So is looks like the two-man race is indeed unfolding as predicted.

So far so good on that pick as well.

For the women it is Heather and Tine with Tyler Stewart 9:30 back, Jackie Arendt 12:30 back and another Canadian Suzanne Zelazo 14:30 back.

I'll take a leap of faith here and project that two Canadians might make the podium today as Suzanne can really run.

In the final stages of the bike at mile 96, Heather Wurtele maintains a lead of just over 3 minutes on Tine Deckers and should have a bit of a head start out on the run course.

ONTO THE RUN COURSE

TJ Tollakson hangs on to his lead as he leaves the bike/run transition area.

TJ just missed the bike course record by 10 seconds. It was set by Steve Larsen in 2001

Heather Wurtele was just over 2 minutes off of the bike course record set by Kate Major in 2004.

As the run develops it does indeed seem to be turning into a two-man race between TJ Tollakson and Ben Hoffman. However TJ does hold a 3-minute advantage and looks to be on his way to a victory in Ironman Lake Placid.

Jason Shortis is running very well and passes Eduardo Sturla to take over third place.

At this point it's fairly certain TJ Tollakson or Ben Hoffan will be on top of the Ironman Lake Placid results 2011 and all that's left is to see who it is when the finish line is reached.

After four miles Heather Wurtele's lead was down to 45 seconds over Tine Deckers. but then Heather really turned it on and at mile seven had a ten minute lead over Tine Decker.

Heather continues to extend the lead and at the 11-mile mark she is almost 12:30 ahead of Tine Deckers and Tyler Stewart is about four minutes behind Decker. It was shaping up to be a race for second place with Heather Wurtele looking strong on the lead.

TJ Tollakson crosses the finish line first and tops the Ironman Lake Placid results 2011.

Ben Hoffman crosses the line in second place. Ben ran five minutes faster than he did in winning Ironman Lake Placid 2010 but was unable to keep up with TJ who was strong all day long.

Jason Shortis, a five-time Ironman Champion takes the third spot.

With 7 miles left to go, Heather Wurtele still has the lead for the women by 13:37 over Tine Deckers, and by 17:40 over Tyler Stewart who is 17:40 back.

Canadian Heather Wurtele is the official winner of Ironman Lake Placid 2011.

Male 18-24Brian Jastrebsky.......10:15:22Mike Abbene............10:34:44Michael Hofman.........10:50:13Daniel Szajta..........10:51:01Ryan Fallot............11:01:36

Male 25-29Greg Close.............9:41:28chris Meewes...........9:53:28Chris Nocera...........9:59:12Tavis Earley...........10:10:31Mathieu Plaisance......10:18:11

Male 29-34David Lamoureux........9:36:11Jeremy cornman.........9:42:29Lucas Moore............9:43:54Stephen Patterson......9:44:41Giffin McNeese.........9:46:04

Male 35-39

Vaughn Cooper..........9:37:50Bryan Krabbe...........9:42:35Eric Kenney............9:45:55Ryan Barnett...........9:46:28Patrick McCrann........9:56:38

Male 40-44Konrad Von Allmen.......9:49:44Jorgen Gam-Jorgensen....9:53:15David Burger............9:57:15Rich Burke..............9:59:03Todd Wiley..............10:00:29Jeff Walsh..............10:02:39Robert Richardson.......10:06:13Patrice Brisindi........10:06:41

Male 45-49Robert Schloegel........9:58:49Dave Sousa..............10:06:26Thomas Newton...........10:06:55John Parker.............10:19:54Gary McArdle............10:23:13

Male 50-54Yves Fortin.............10:05:38Barry Lewis.............10:09:39Kyle welch..............10:19:34Ned Daily...............10:31:35Mark Yost...............10:41:20

Male 55-59Joel Rosenstraus........10:51:18Alain Deschenes.........10:55:13Jacques Ricard..........10:59:10Michael Parker..........10:59:44Paul Bozoain............11:02:12

Male 60-64Mark Dean...............12:13:47Stephen Smith...........12:43:26

AWESOME MEN 60-65Ronald Woloshan........13:39:57Bill Saunders..........13:41:51David Wilson...........13:42:56Dave Schneider.........13:49:03CharlesCary...........13:57:16Arnold Levin...........15:00:31Lee Lovitz.............15:24:55Sam Johnson............15:58:16John Lightbody.........16:06:39Kevin Morgan...........16:09:40Male 70-74 (HOW SPECIAL IS THIS PERFORMANCE?)Great job Dean. I hope you go to Kona and kick some butt.Dean Paxson.............12:34:50

Dean had a 1:22:04 swim, 6:19:07 bike and 4:38:55 marathon.

FUTURE PRO WOMEN--18-24Julia Reichert........10:55:53CailleyWayman........11:40:44CarolynPfalzgraf.....13:09:55Jenna Bernstein.......13:41:47Lauren Doski..........13:42:49Melissa Dymond........14:02:26Kellen Sheedy.........15:37:11

Female 25-29Amanda Kourtz...........10:21:01Lindsay Wohlers.........10:37:37

Female 30-34Kim Schwabenbauer........10:11:54Suzanne Serpico..........10:25:19Lisa Mueller.............10:26:32Megan Wiseman............10:43:54Lori Sherlock............10:52:08

Female 35-39Angie Defilippi...........10:32:20Kate Bruck................10:41:26Noqa Ruttenberg...........10:41:38Marie Repec...............10:47:22Wendy Mader...............10:55:40

Female 40-44Angela Bancroft...........10:19:21Stacey Stern..............10:48:21Michelle Rosowsky.........11:19:02Sylvie-Anne Gauthier......11:22:04Mary Holt-Wilson..........11:22:36

Female 45-49Jeanne Debonis............10:32:46Helene Desrosiers.........10:50:57Judy Andrew Piel..........11:26:54Julia Fournier............11:49:22Allison Woodward..........12:04:59

Female 50-54Carmel Tindale-Fox.........11:30:43Barbara Cronin-Stagnari....11:34:35Pascale Butcher............11:35:56Sue Dean...................11:40:00Frances Vincent............11:47:15

Female 55-59Marianne Moore.............12:28:03Brian Delaney..............12:34:15Arlene Ayoub...............12:42:24

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCES--WOMEN 60-64Mary Houbolt...........13:06:13Barbara Johns..........13:35:03Roberta Leventhal......15:48:19Claire Vendramini......15:57:46Peggy Frings...........16:14:52Mary Cole..............16:23:14Cheryl Pike............16:49:13

PRO WOMEN FINAL RESULTSHeather Wurtele.......09:19:03Tine Deckers..........09:34:41 Tyler Stewart.........09:38:09Jackie Arendt.........09:56:21Jacqui Gordon........10:07:22SuzanneZelazo.......10:21:08Amber Ferreira.......10:30:39MirindaAlldritt.....10:46:46Marie Danais.........10:48:26

PRO MEN FINAL RESULTSTj Tollakson..........08:25:15Ben Hoffman...........08:33:29Jason Shortis.........08:47:18Eduardo Sturla........09:04:16Daniel Bretscher......09:07:05Ian Mikelson..........09:12:42Mike Neill............09:13:03Tim Snow..............09:16:01Matthew Russell.......09:26:26John Hirsch...........09:45:50

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