Okanagan women fill podium at Ironman 70.3 Victoria

It was an all-Okanagan sweep of the podium on Sunday at the Subaru Ironman 70.3 Victoria.

Heather Wurtele of Vernon, now living in Kelowna, returned to sight of her first triathlon to win a fourth Ironman event of the 70.3 season with a time of 4:13:06, while Kelowna’s Malindi Elmore was six minutes behind (4:19:35) in second place and Jen Annett of Penticton finished in third (4:23:48).

Meanwhile, Trevor Wurtele (3:49:56), clawed is way to within 46 seconds of the men’s winner Taylor Reid of Caledon, Ont. (3:49:10) to place second in the men’s event.

It was a wire-to-wire victory for Heather Wurtele. She started the day holding off Rachel McBride of Vancouver, Amanda Wendorff (Chicago), Robin Pomeroy (Medfield, MA.) and Sarah Capone (USA) on the swim by 30 seconds.

Wurtele pulled away from the pack — except for Annett — who completed the 90-kilometre bike course in the day’s best time of 2:25:19, 23 seconds faster than the leader.

Doing what she had to do on the 21.1-kilometre run, Wurtele kept a steady pace (1:24:51) and let everyone behind her fight it out for the second and third steps on the podium.

Elmore, the 2004 Olympian (1,500-metres) and former Canadian 10-kilometre champion, led the field on the run with a time of 1:23:22 to pull ahead of Annett, who was timed at 1:32:32 on the run.

Trevor Wurtele was among five men a minute back of leaders Jarrod Shoemaker of Clermont, Fla. and Adam O’Meara of Victoria out of the water.

Reid, Nathan Killam of Vancouver and Wurtele stretched it out on the bike,with Reid and Wurtele trading the lead early. Heading into the second transition, Reid established leads of 1:10 to 1:30 on Chris Lieto (Red Bank, N.J.), Killam and Wurtele.

Exiting the transition, Reid and Wurtele were running fast, however, Kilshaw was flying and posted the fastest run of the day at 1:17:10, but had a three and half minute hole to dig himself out of and five positions separating him from the leader. He finished in third place with a time of 3:51:11.

Reid was solid throughout the run (1:18:40) and crossed the finish line for the win while Wurtele settled for second overall with the help of a stellar run of 1:17:57.

Both the Wurteles, who grew up in Vernon and graduated from the University of Victoria, were familiar with the course in the capital city.

“I did my first-ever race here (the event has a 21-year history and was formerly known as the New Balance Half Iron),” said Heather, who went into Sunday’s race having won the North American Ironman 70.3 in St. George, Utah on May 7, the Ironman 70.3 in California in April and in Monterrey, Mexico in March.

“This is where I learned how to do triathlon,” said Wurtele during the pre-race panel discussion on Saturday. “I remember all these roads and trails well. It’s going to be a fun day,” added the 36-year-old , who earned her masters degree in plant physiology at UVic.

Meanwhile, Elmore, who was unable to finish her last 70.3 Ironman race in St. George, said Sunday was a “another fun day of challenges.

“It was a good result and an honour to share the podium with these gals (Wurtele and Annett ),” noted Elmore.

In the age group competition, James Young of Kelowna led a field of 164 athletes in the men's 40-44-year-old category with a time of 4:19:44, good for 31st overall. His wife, Claire Young (4:45:53), placed second to Kelowna's Cailla Patterson (4:43:06).

Kelowna's Laurelee Nelson also stepped to the podium, placing third among 19 athletes in the women's 60-64-year-old division with a time of 5:50:57.

Martin Courtenay of Kelowna placed sixth among 119 men in the 50-54 division with a clocking of 4:50:24. Kevin Cutjar of Penticton was first in the same age group in 4:31:36.