News LIVE: 2018 Ironman 70.3 St. George; photos, results

Written by Ric Wayman
May 5, 2018

ST. GEORGE — The 2018 Ironman 70.3 North American Pro Championship St. George gets underway just before 7 a.m. Saturday as nearly 2,700 professional and amateur athletes gather at the swim start located at Sand Hollow Reservoir in Sand Hollow State Park.

NEWS LIVE: This Ironman LIVE report is closed – see St. George News’ full wrap report and ‘everyman’ gallery: 

The 2018 Ironman 70.3 St. George will offer a total professional prize purse of $100,000 and 75 age group qualifying slots to the 2018 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa this September.

Fun facts:

  • The event welcomes more than 2,700 registered participants.
  • Athletes have come from 47 states (Utah – 733) and 36 countries (U.S. – 2,487).
  • 18-year-old Paige Smith from Kimberley, Idaho, is the youngest female athlete.
  • 18-year-old Immanuel Darmadji from Portland, Oregon, is the youngest male athlete.
  • 69-year-old Medlodie Cronenberg from Henderson, Nevada, is the oldest female athlete.
  • 80-year-old John Holman III from San Diego, California, is the oldest male athlete.
  • Athletes’ occupations include, among others, airline pilot, architect, dentist, firefighter, lifeguard, nurse, ski instructor, surgeon, physics professor and psychologist.
  • Full list of professional athletes can be viewed on the Ironman start list webpage for the 2018 Ironman 70.3 triathlon.

At 6:30 a.m. pros began entering the 62-degree water at Sand Hollow Reservoir for warm up. Both men and women’s pros started the swim followed by age-groupers at 7 a.m. Race administrators are sending three competitors into the water at a time every five seconds with start indicated by a little buzzer.

At the end of the race, Lionel Sanders of Windsor, Canada, is the 2018 Ironman 70.3 North American Pro Champion, men’s division, with a winning time in St. George of 3 hours, 41 minutes, 11 seconds – a new course record; with splits of swim: 25:26, bike: 2:01:32, run: 1:11:47. Sebastian Kenle of Germany took second place with a time of 3:42:38 and Michael Weiss of Gumpoldskirchen, Austria, took third with a time of 3:43:14.

Paula Findlay of Edmonton, Canada, is the 2018 Ironman 70.3 North American Pro champion, women’s division, with a winning time in St. George of 4:15:52; with splits of swim: 24:46, bike: 2:25:11, run 1:23:05. Jeanni Seymour of Johannesburg, South Africa, and most recently Boulder, Colorado, took second with a time of 4:17:19 and Sarah True of Hanover, New Hampshire, took third with a time of 4:17:46.

More results for pros through the various legs of the race are included below the photo gallery.

St. George News photos in this report give you splash and a dash of the race LIVE – for more detail see the Ironman 70.3 St. George live blog.

Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery.

Results as posted to Ironman 70.3 St. George live blog

Pro Men – Out Of Swim

1   23:15         Sam Appleton
2   23:26    0:12 Matt Franklin
3   23:28    0:14 Justin Metzler
4   23:29    0:15 Antony Costes
5   23:32    0:18 Tim Reed
6   23:34    0:20 Joe Gambles
7   24:14    0:59 Antoine Jolicoeur Des
8   25:26    2:12 Lionel Sanders
9   25:28    2:14 Sebastian Kienle
10   25:32    2:18 Nicholas Granet
11   26:06    2:52 Trevor Wurtele
12   26:14    3:00 Andrew Talansky
13   26:39    3:25 Michael Weiss

Pro Women – Out Of Swim
1   24:33         Pamella Oliveira
2   24:35    0:02 Sarah True
3   24:39    0:06 Alicia Kaye
4   24:46    0:13 Paula Findlay
5   24:46    0:13 Meredith Kessler
6   25:32    0:59 Jeanni Seymour
7   25:36    1:03 Rachel Olson
8   25:48    1:16 Katy Evans
9   26:56    2:23 Ewa Bugdol
10   26:58    2:25 Michaela Herlbauer
11   27:37    3:04 Heather Wurtele
12   27:38    3:06 Kyra Wiens
13   27:42    3:09 Melanie McQuaid
14   29:27    4:54 Erin Green
15   29:30    4:57 Sarah Jarvis

Pro Men – Thru Bike Split 1 – 11.06 mi

1   50:10         Sam Appleton
2   50:54    0:44 Antony Costes
3   51:24    1:14 Tim Reed
4   51:25    1:15 Joe Gambles
5   51:36    1:26 Lionel Sanders
6   51:38    1:28 Sebastian Kienle
7   52:19    2:09 Justin Metzler
8   53:01    2:51 Antoine Jolicoeur Des
9   53:02    2:52 Matt Franklin
10   53:39    3:29 Andrew Talansky
11   53:46    3:36 Michael Weiss

Pro Women – Thru Bike Split 1 – 11.06 mi

1   56:12         Meredith Kessler
2   56:13    0:02 Alicia Kaye
3   56:15    0:04 Sarah True
4   56:17    0:06 Paula Findlay
5   56:19    0:08 Pamella Oliveira
6   57:37    1:26 Jeanni Seymour
7   59:13    3:02 Melanie McQuaid
8   59:19    3:08 Rachel Olson
9   59:31    3:20 Heather Wurtele
10   59:53    3:41 Michaela Herlbauer
11   59:56    3:45 Katy Evans

Pro Men – Thru Bike Split 2 – 26.93 mi

1 1:22:46         Sam Appleton
2 1:23:21    0:36 Sebastian Kienle
3 1:23:26    0:41 Lionel Sanders
4 1:23:28    0:43 Antony Costes
5 1:24:03    1:18 Tim Reed
6 1:24:04    1:19 Joe Gambles
7 1:25:50    3:05 Andrew Talansky
8 1:25:51    3:06 Michael Weiss
9 1:27:55    5:10 Antoine Jolicoeur Des
10 1:27:55    5:10 Justin Metzler

Pro Women – Thru Bike Split 2 – 26.93 mi

1 1:33:40         Meredith Kessler
2 1:33:44    0:04 Alicia Kaye
3 1:33:49    0:09 Paula Findlay
4 1:33:52    0:12 Sarah True
5 1:33:55    0:15 Pamella Oliveira
6 1:36:21    2:41 Jeanni Seymour
7 1:37:33    3:53 Heather Wurtele
8 1:37:35    3:55 Melanie McQuaid
9 1:39:12    5:32 Rachel Olson
10 1:39:47    6:07 Michaela Herlbauer

Pro Men – Thru Bike Split 3 – 39.30 mi

1 1:50:31         Lionel Sanders
2 1:50:34    0:03 Sebastian Kienle
3 1:50:52    0:21 Sam Appleton
4 1:51:22    0:51 Antony Costes
5 1:53:38    3:07 Michael Weiss
6 1:53:39    3:09 Andrew Talansky
7 1:53:41    3:10 Tim Reed
8 1:53:43    3:12 Joe Gambles
9 1:58:00    7:29 Antoine Jolicoeur Des
10 1:58:35    8:04 Justin Metzler

Pro Men – Thru 56-Mile Bike Finish

1 2:27:58         Sebastian Kienle
2 2:27:58    0:01 Lionel Sanders
3 2:30:07    2:09 Sam Appleton
4 2:30:47    2:49 Michael Weiss
5 2:31:23    3:25 Andrew Talansky
6 2:31:52    3:54 Antony Costes

Pro Men – Thru Run Split 1 – 2.30 mi

1 2:42:38         Lionel Sanders
2 2:42:56    0:18 Sebastian Kienle
3 2:45:17    2:39 Sam Appleton
4 2:45:20    2:42 Michael Weiss
5 2:48:39    6:02 Antony Costes
6 2:48:56    6:18 Tim Reed
7 2:48:57    6:19 Andrew Talansky

Pro Men – Fastest Bike

1 2:01:15         Sebastian Kienle
2 2:01:32    0:17 Lionel Sanders
3 2:02:30    1:15 Michael Weiss
4 2:03:44    2:30 Andrew Talansky
5 2:05:41    4:26 Sam Appleton
6 2:07:07    5:52 Antony Costes
7 2:08:57    7:42 Tim Reed
8 2:09:02    7:47 Joe Gambles
9 2:11:00    9:46 Sam Long
10 2:13:03   11:48 Trevor Wurtele

Pro Women – Thru 56-Mile Bike Finish

1 2:50:01         Meredith Kessler
2 2:50:51    0:51 Alicia Kaye
3 2:51:05    1:04 Paula Findlay
4 2:53:12    3:12 Sarah True
5 2:53:28    3:27 Pamella Oliveira
6 2:53:59    3:58 Heather Wurtele
7 2:54:31    4:30 Jeanni Seymour
8 2:55:30    5:30 Melanie McQuaid

Pro Men – Thru Run Split 3 – 7.67 mi

1 3:11:12         Lionel Sanders
2 3:12:00    0:49 Sebastian Kienle
3 3:13:20    2:09 Michael Weiss
4 3:15:02    3:51 Sam Appleton
5 3:18:48    7:36 Tim Reed
6 3:19:43    8:31 Antony Costes
7 3:20:28    9:17 Joe Gambles

Pro Women – Thru Run Split 2 – 5.53 mi

1 3:28:54         Paula Findlay
2 3:29:51    0:58 Meredith Kessler
3 3:30:30    1:36 Sarah True
4 3:30:42    1:49 Alicia Kaye
5 3:32:01    3:07 Jeanni Seymour

Pro Women – Thru Run Split 3 – 7.67 mi

1 3:40:49         Paula Findlay
2 3:42:08    1:20 Sarah True
3 3:42:52    2:04 Alicia Kaye
4 3:42:59    2:11 Meredith Kessler
5 3:43:27    2:39 Jeanni Seymour

Pro Women – Thru Run Split 4 – 10.96 mi

1   4:02:56         Paula Findlay
2   4:04:29    1:34 Sarah True
3   4:04:42    1:47 Jeanni Seymour
4   4:05:49    2:54 Alicia Kaye

Men’s podium: 

1   3:41:11  Lionel Sanders
2   3:42:38  Sebastian Kienle
3   3:43:14  Michael Weiss

Women’s podium:

 1 4:15:53         Paula Findlay
2 4:17:19    1:27 Jeanni Seymour
3 4:17:46    1:53 Sarah True

Results for all categories and stages of Saturday’s 2018 Ironman 70.3 North American Pro Championship St. George can be found through the race results webpage here.

St. George News reporters Hollie Reina, Sheldon Demke and Jeff Richards contributed to this report.

Resources

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews | @NewsWayman

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

"I wrote my first word when I was very young. I enjoyed this so much I decided to write many more words." A native of Pacific Palisades, Calif., Ric was bitten by the news bug as a staff writer and associate editor of the Palisades High School Tideline. After school he entered the media as a radio personality, both playing music and reporting news. Ric moved to St. George in the 1980s and was the morning personality on all three major AM stations in town. An avid amateur radio operator, Ric is looking for a good band to play in, as he plays keyboards, bass and guitar. Ric, who currently is working on developing a lifestyle that doesn't require his presence, lives in the center of St. George with his partner Terri, two snoring dogs and too many neurotic cats.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

3 Comments

  • Mike P May 6, 2018 at 12:40 pm

    I’m still wondering what you get for winning one of these competitions . Do you get more advertisements to sew on to your tights? A case of drinking water? I see some of these people travel all over the world to compete and I’m just wondering what they get for all this work. I see winning Olympic athletes at least get some endorsements and such (if they win) but I’ve never seen a “famous” triathlon / Iornman competitor…… anywhere. Even the people that show up for these events are mostly friends & family. I’m not being sarcastic here, I really would like to know what’s in it for them professionally. Its certainly not screaming fans and guest appearances on T.V.

    • Perry May 7, 2018 at 3:39 am

      The professional athletes receive a cash payout which varies by race and by series. (Ironman, Challenge, Triathlon Canada, ITU, etc.) The age group athletes get nothing. They race for the potential to make it to the world championships or just for personal achievement.

      • Mike P May 7, 2018 at 10:06 am

        Perry, Thank you I really was wondering how that worked. I assume the cities (i.e. St George) pay big bucks for the privilege of sponsoring one of these events.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.