Aernouts and Tisseyre Win the Inaugural Ironman 70.3 Pocono Mountains
Scenic and Technical Course and Main Street Finish Highlight PA’s First Ironman Event
October 2, 2010 (Stroudsburg, PA) - On a crisp autumn day in Northeast Pennsylvania, Belgium’s Bart Aernouts and Canada’s Magali Tisseyre won the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Pocono Mountains. Shortened to a bike/run due to heavy rains this week, Pennsylvania’s first Ironman event challenged athletes on a scenic and technical bike course and a rolling and beautiful run course finishing on Main Street in Stroudsburg, PA packed with thousands of spectators.
In the men’s pro race, Aernouts, fresh off his win at Ironman 70.3 Syracuse, took the lead on the hilly and technical bike course and was first into transition with a 3:25 lead. The Belgian never looked back logging a 1:14:25 run going wire to wire to take the win with an overall time of 3:27:04. Zach Ruble took second in 3:34:33. Fabian Conrad rounded out the podium in third with a time of 3:35:35.
With the time trial start, Magali Tisseyre was the very last pro out of the starting gate. The petite Canadian made up some ground on the bike course but still entered T2 a few minutes behind Jennifer Tetrick, Jessie Donavan and Kristen White. Tisseyre was able to catch Tetrick and White in the first few miles of the run and finally passed Donavan at the turnaround pulling away for the win. Tisseyre finished in front of a raucous crowd in 3:57:11. Donavan finished second in 4:02:46 and Tetrick rounded out the podium in 4:04:11.
The pro field battled for the event’s $15,000 purse with Aernouts and Tisseyre each taking home a $3,000 first place prize. The Ironman 70.3 Pocono Mountains is an early season qualifying race for the 2012 Marine Corps Ironman 70.3 World Championships. 50 athletes earned qualifying spots for the Worlds next September in Las Vegas.
For more information and full results, visit www.ironmanpoconomountains.com.
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