While tropical storm Helena wreaked havoc in some parts of the United States and the swim was cancelled as a result, Ironman Chattanooga was able to take place this weekend: that was good news for Sam Long and Sarah True, who ultimately proved to be the strongest athletes over 180 kilometers of cycling and 42.2 kilometers of running.
For Long, of course, it’s never a bad-call when the swim is shortened or, as now, even cancelled, because the American always has to rely on the bike and run, while he usually lags by minutes after the swim. Yet he was not the fastest biker this time, because with a bike time of 3:50:01, Jackson Laundry was eighteen seconds faster.
During the run, Laundry managed to extend his lead in the first few kilometers to about a minute and a half, but after about fourteen kilometers Long started to catch up and just after the half marathon point he even took over the lead in the race. He would not relinquish that either, eventually winning in a time of 6:32:11. While Laundry fell off the podium, Cody Beals and Andreas Dreitz actually advanced in the field; Beals finished second and approached to just twenty seconds with a time of 6:32:31. Dreitz finished third in 6:34:47.
In the women’s race, winner True still had quite a bit of work to do after the bike. It was Britain’s Stephanie Clutterbuck who came first in T2 after 4:14:00, followed by her compatriot Rebecca Anderbury at 3:07 minutes and Angela Naeth at 5:37 minutes. True followed in fourth and was then 6:39 minutes behind.
During the run, however, that deficit disappeared like snow in the sun and after about 25 kilometers True had already passed everyone and had taken over the lead in the race. She too would not relinquish that lead position to eventually win in a time of 7:17:13. Clutterbuck was second in 7:20:45 and American Annamarie Strehlow was third in 7:24:05.
