Ironman Lake Stevens 70.3 Results 2011

It's a strong field of pros who were set to fight it out for World Championship points by topping the Ironman Lake Stevens 70.3 results 2011.

Of all the 70.3 races taking place today, August 14, 2011 the sixth running of Ironman Lake Stevens 70.3 most likely has the most competitive field of pro athletes.

For those of you don't know(and I didn't until I checked it out) Lake Stevens is just over 30 miles North of Seattle.

If that's the case, it can't be all that far from the Canadian border leading into British Columbia.

THE COURSE

The swim is an out and back course and because it is narrow, it will allow for plenty of spectators to watch the swim.

The 56 mile bike course is pretty much a double-loop that's heads East of Lake Stevens that has a lot of rollers that many of the athletes will find challenging.

On the bright side, the scenery is stunning but I'm not sure if that will reduce the pain any, but it's worth having a look around just to see if it does.

The run course is also a double loop and will take the athletes through the center of town which should make for plenty of crowd support.

As with most 70.3 races this time of year, there are many pros vying for enough points to make it to the 70.3 World Championships in Henderson, Nevada.

THE PRO MENtentativePaul AmbroseLuke BellPhilippe KozubGavin AndersonShanon StallardGraham O'GradyJustin ParkLewis ElliotNicholas ThompsonTom EvansDantley YoungJosh HadwayChris BoudreauxJames DuffJeff SymondsMatt LietoBrendan HalpinJoe UmphenourStephen KilshawYnuk BosseNathan KillamGuy CrawfordChris GanterJason Shortis

THE PRO WOMENMelanie McQuaidTyler StewartMackenzie MadisonChristine FletcherJennifer LuebkeHaley Cooper-ScottRachel McBrideMandy McLaneJennifer Tetrick

THE FAVORITES

For the men, Luke Bell is certainly right up there as a pre-race favorite. In four years he has had two firsts and a third on this course. Plus it always helps when you really like a course and enjoy returning year after year.

Although Luke was force to drop out of Ironman Lake Placid because of a nasty virus he will still be competing in both the Marine Corps 70.3 World Championships and in Kona as well.

So it is really hard to go against Luke in this race.

His stiffest competition will most likely come from fellow Australian Paul Ambrose. However this is a quick turn-around for Paul as he just raced in the Boulder 70.3 so he may come up a bit short today.

Paul has raced quite a lot this year and has a first in the IRONMAN RACINE 70.3 and a second the following weekend in a very competitive IRONMAN RHODE ISLAND 70.3.

It also appears the Tom Evans from Canada has entered this race and I will be hoping he acquits himself well against some very stiff competition.

In the race for top spot for the pro women, it looks like Canadian Melanie McQuaid is in good form and is the defending champion on this course.

Melanie will be renewing acquaintances with Tyler Stewart who is always a tough compeititor to put away. It should be a great race for the pro women's title here in Lake Stevens.

THE RACE

It looked like Canadian Tom Evans was going to have one of his great races as he came out of the water with Luke Bell and Paul Ambrose and the three of them were right behind Graham O'Grady and Gavin Anderson who were about 30 seconds ahead.

Ultimately Tom had problems out on the bike course and a great race developed between Luke Bell, Paul Ambrose, and Jeff Symonds.

THE SWIM TIMES FOR THE TOP MENGraham O'Grady........23:37Gavin Anderson........23:38Paul Ambrose..........24:00Luke Bell.............24:01Tom Evans.............24:04James Duff............24:45Jeff Symonds..........24:47

On the women's side it was Jennifer Luebke leading the way in the wim with Melanie McQuaid second and somehow Tyler Stewart was the second last pro woman out of the water.

THE SWIM TIMES FOR THE TOP WOMENJennifer Luebke.......29:08Melanie McQuaid.......29:12Christine Fletcher....29:41Rachel McBride........29:42Mackenzie Madison.....29:50Tyler Stewart.........30:54Haley Cooper-Scott....31:25

Just as might be expected, Luke Bell and Paul Ambrose raced virtually side-by-side for the entire day.

Luke Bell had a bike time of 2:15:21 which was the best of the day, but Paul was right there with a 2:15:26. The next pro male was Jeff Symonds who had a 2:17:27 bike time.

This was an amazing race because going out onto the run course there were at least 6 or 7 pro males in contention for a podium spot.

For the women it was Tyler Stewart who decimated the field on the bike course and she started out on the run with a huge lead over Melanie McQuaid who simply could not keep up with Tyler.

Luke Bell is the winner of Ironman Lake Placid 2011, but you could have thrown a blanket over the top three finishers.

TOP MALE FINISHERSLuke Bell..............3:56:50Paul Ambrose...........3:57:53Jeff Symonds...........3:58:29Graham O'Grady.........4:00:33Stephen Kilshaw........4:02:29

Tyler Stewart was a machine in this race and won by ten minutes over Melanie McQuaid.

From 2nd to 5th place was very closely bunched and all in all this whole race for both men and women was pretty exciting to follow. It was an all-out effort by so many today.

TOP FEMALE FINISHERSTyler Stewart...........4:27:31Melanie McQuaid.........4:37:58Haley Cooper-Scott......4:42:42Mackenzie Madison.......4:43:24Christine Fletcher......4:44:10

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