Chris Leiferman and Mary Beth Ellis from the United States were the first to cross the finish line at the 5th Subaru Ironman Mont-Tremblant presented by Sportium.
Offering a total professional prize purse of $100,000, the race also awarded 40 highly sought after age-group qualifying slots to the 2016 Ironman World Championship taking place in in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii on October 8.
Leiferman claims victory among the men in his first-ever Ironman
Aussie Paul Mathews (AUS) was first out of the water, accompanied by Eric Limkemann (USA) and Romain Guillaume (FRA) just seconds back as the trio scampered into transition together.
In rainy conditions, Guillaume was quick to head to the front of the bike with Paul Mathews (AUS) in tow for much of the first half of the bike. Behind the pair, Jordan Rapp (USA), Limkemann and rookie Ironman pro Chris Leiferman (USA) were anywhere from four to seven minutes back of the lead pair for that first 90km.
In the second half of the bike, Guillaume put the hammer down and was rewarded with a five-minute lead on his closest rival. Late in the bike, Rapp reeled in the leader and reduced his deficit to under four minutes at the conclusion of the 180km bike.
Heading out on the run, it was apparent from the start that Guillaume was suffering and could only watch the top five competitors behind him clawing into his lead at an alarming rate. Rapp’s early pace netted him the lead at nine kilometers; however, the new leader had three other men breathing down his neck less than three minutes back. Behind Rapp, Leiferman was flying and was quickly reducing his nine-minute deficit after the bike but was in unchartered waters, as this was his first-ever Ironman. Just before the first half of the run was completed, Leiferman grabbed the lead from Rapp on his way to a blistering 2:45:10 marathon and the victory. Rapp would hang in to claim a second place finish while Stephen Kilshaw from Canada would complete the podium.
 Chris Leiferman(Photo: Ironman; click to enlarge) |
Top ten professional men’s results:
| Swim | Bike | Run | Total | |||||
| 1. Chris Leiferman (USA) | 0:58:56 | 4:36:09 | 2:45:10 | 8:24:59 | ||||
| 2. Jordan Rapp (USA) | 0:58:59 | 4:30:35 | 2:54:54 | 8:29:57 | ||||
| 3. Stephen Kilshaw (CAN) | 0:58:47 | 4:35:00 | 2:54:05 | 8:34:16 | ||||
| 4. Paul Matthews (AUS) | 0:55:22 | 4:37:55 | 3:01:27 | 8:39:51 | ||||
| 5. Paul Ambrose (AUS) | 0:58:48 | 4:37:58 | 3:07:57 | 8:50:17 | ||||
| 6. Eric Limkeman (USA) | 0:55:27 | 4:41:08 | 3:10:38 | 8:52:38 | ||||
| 7. Chris McDonald (AUS) | 1:02:42 | 4:43:09 | 3:11:21 | 9:02:13 | ||||
| 8. Victor de Coral (AUS) | 1:04:58 | 4:50:45 | 3:06:45 | 9:09:06 | ||||
| 9. Chad Holderbaum (ESP) | 1:02:29 | 4:51:42 | 3:12:12 | 9:11:58 | ||||
| 10. Timothy Clarke (CAN) | 1:05:26 | 5:03:23 | 3:08:09 | 9:23:11 |
Ellis wins among the ladies
 Mary Beth Ellis(Photo: Ironman; click to enlarge) |
There was a lot less drama in the women’s race that saw Amanda Stevens (USA) come out of the water first, who just returned to racing this weekend after being sidelined with a foot injury she has been nursing since May. Mary Beth Ellis (USA) was second out of the water two minutes back while Laurel Wassner (USA) exited the water in third with a five-minute deficit.
Once the women were on the bikes, Ellis proceeded to lay down the fastest bike split of the day by close to 10 minutes. The 10-time Ironman champion would carry over a 12-minute lead on Wassner and over 17 minutes on Amanda Wenndorff at the conclusion of the bike, setting her up nicely for her eleventh Ironman win if she could hold off any hard charges mounted behind her.
Wassner managed to out-run Ellis over the 42 kilometers by seven minutes but had given the leader an insurmountable time gap at the start of the run. Ellis was never under any threat up front, and cruised the run to claim victory by a winning margin of 6:08.
Top ten professional women’s results:
| Swim | Bike | Run | Total | |||||
| 1. Mary Beth Ellis (USA) | 1:00:59 | 4:59:25 | 3:18:49 | 9:26:37 | ||||
| 2. Laurel Wassner (USA) | 1:03:44 | 5:09:15 | 3:11:51 | 9:32:45 | ||||
| 3. Jessica Jones (USA) | 1:05:49 | 5:28:15 | 3:20:26 | 10:00:43 | ||||
| 4. Amber Ferreira (USA) | 1:05:48 | 5:14:37 | 3:38:04 | 10:05:15 | ||||
| 5. Amanda Wendorff (USA) | 1:05:51 | 5:13:22 | 3:41:40 | 10:06:50 | ||||
| 6. Caroline St-Pierre (CAN) | 1:05:52 | 5:37:12 | 3:19:06 | 10:07:47 | ||||
| 7. Amanda Stevens (USA) | 0:58:38 | 5:21:21 | 4:31:51 | 10:58:14 | ||||
| 8. Amy Vantassel (USA) | 1:20:57 | 5:51:33 | 3:40:29 | 11:00:58 | ||||
| 9. Katy Cargiulo (USA) | 1:20:10 | 5:52:19 | 3:49:33 | 11:12:03 | ||||
| 10. Caroline Martineau (CAN) | 1:14:01 | 5:42:57 | 4:26:10 | 11:30:17 |
One of more than 40 events in the global Ironman Series, the Subaru Ironman Mont-Tremblant triathlon presented by Sportium challenged athletes to a 3.8 km swim, 180 km of biking and 42.2 km of run, all in the delightful natural setting of one of the most beautiful regions in Quebec. Among the 2,457 athletes that took the start, over 47.5% were Canadian. Of this number, 49% were from Quebec. Of the 22 countries represented, Canada sent the largest contingent of athletes, followed by the United-States. The most represented age category was 40 to 44. Athletes of all ages competed in the race, the youngest being 18 and the oldest 76. In total, over 2500 volunteers were on site to ensure the success of this world-renowned event.
“We are so proud to be celebrating the 5-year anniversary of the Subaru Ironman Mont-Tremblant triathlon presented by Sportium, and to see how far we have come since the first edition in 2012,” said Dominique Piché, Ironman Race Director. “We owe this success to all the athletes, both professional and amateur, that quickly adopted our event and our beautiful region, but also to our partners who believed in us, and of course the thousands of volunteers and collaborators that invested their heart and soul to make this triathlon one of the most appreciated on the Ironman circuit.”
Full results for the Subaru Ironman Mont-Tremblant presented by Sportium, can be found at http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/events/americas/ironman/mont-tremblant/results.aspx.
