In the first-ever Ironman Boulder held last weekend, US athletes Justin Daerr and Danielle Kehoe both took home their first Ironman wins with times of 8:20:26 and 9:19:54 respectively.
In the men’s race, Aussie athlete Richie Cunningham led out of the swim in Boulder Reservoir by nearly three minutes. Once on the bike he managed to keep a buffer of around four minutes over Daerr, with Karol Kristov (EST) holding on for third place.
Onto the run and Daerr started to reel Cunningham in, overtaking his fellow Boulder resident when Cunningham stopped to stretch out a cramp to take his first Ironman victory. Further back, Scott Defilippis (USA) ran his way to third, crossing the line nearly 34mins behind Daerr.
In the women’s race, pre-race favourite Laura Bennett (USA) put in a strong swim to leave the water 1:36mins ahead of Carrie Lester (USA). However, Lester began to create a lead for herself around halfway through the bike leg and entered T2 with a five-minute lead over Bennett and almost nine minutes over Kehoe.
Lester pulled out early on in the run, leaving Bennett in the lead for the next 16km or so before she was overtaken by a determined-looking Kehoe, who surged through the final third of the run for her first pro win. Bennett crossed the line around 24mins later for silver, while bronze was taken by Christine Hammond (USA).
Men’s results:
1. Justin Daerr (USA) – 8:20:26
2. Richie Cunningham (AUS) – 8:30:38
3. Scott Defilippis (USA) – 8:54:19
4. Steven Zawaski (USA) – 9:01:53
5. Mark Hillers (USA) – 9:14:44
Women’s results:
1. Danielle Kehoe (USA) – 9:19:54
2. Laura Bennett (USA) – 9:43:59
3. Christine Hammond (USA) – 9:53:04
4. Morgan Chaffin (USA) – 9:57:28
5. Uli Bromme (USA) – 10:01:13
For the complete race results head here.
(Image: Nils Nilsen/IRONMAN)