Doe wins Calgary 70.3, Whyte in fourth place

Kieran Doe continued a great run of results on the North American 70.3 half ironman circuit this year with victory at the Calgary 70.3 overnight, backed up by fellow countryman Jamie Whyte in fourth place.

Doe led from start to finish and won in style from American Brian Fleischmann in second and Australian Paul Mathews with Whyte closing quickly in fourth but running out of real estate to join Doe on the podium.

Doe looked back on a great day when everything went to plan.

“I came out of the water with a group of three who had pushed a fast pace in the swim, once onto the bike I pushed hard to open up a gap early which I managed to do, conditions were a little cold and light rain was falling.

“I settled into a nice rhythm on my Orbea Ordu and worked hard right until the end of the bike, with the course being a point to point bike I was unsure of what my lead was or who was chasing so I just focused on my own race knowing that I had opened up a sizeable gap.”

Doe did have a scary moment early in the run, but took time to recover and return to full speed.

“I ran out of transition feeling fresh and bouncy with some good leg speed, I found my pace early and settled in now knowing that 2nd was 2min30 down and a group of 3 others 4min back, around the 6km mark I went through a real bad patch and my pace slowed due to stomach cramps a quick toilet stop got me back on track and up to pace.

“The run required strength with lots of steep climbs and long gradual climbs, I turned at the half way point 2min30 up on Brian Fleischmann and really pushed the next 6km hard to try and shut him out of the race this worked as he started to lose time to me and with 4km left the race was now mine to lose the last 4km were almost all uphill but with great support and lots of noise the crowd carried me home to my first 70.3 title.”

Whyte summed up a strong day and the end of his North American season.

“I couldn't quite repeat my top 3 placing from here last year, but still happy with my third top 5 finish of the season. The conditions were tough for racing with heavy rain over night that continued during the early stages of the race.

“The swim went well, exiting the water in the chase pack not too far back from the front group. Then the pace really went on during the bike with Kieran going solo off the front, but everyone who was riding well was committed to chasing hard, which was great to see. This made for a very solid 90km bike leg.”

While Doe was clocking an impressive 2 hours, 12 minutes and 11 seconds for the 90km bike to distance the field, Whyte had to cope with a lack of fuel on the first part of the bike, after making what he described as a ‘rookie error’.

“My gel flask bounced off my bike when crossing a bridge immediately after leaving T1 so I rode the first 35 km without fuel and had to settle for a sticky power bar from an aid station for fuel on the bike. I missed my Espresso Hammer Gel today!”

The mistake didn’t prove too costly though, with the Auckland triathlete in touch off the bike and out on to the 21km run.

“I came off the bike in 7th, so again had to run well to move into the prize money positions. By half way through the run, I had moved up to 4th place and had my sights set on Australian Paul Mathews. I was always closing in on him but just couldn't get across the gap as he held on for 3rd.

Whyte and Doe now head back to Penticton in the States to prepare for Ironman Canada on August 29, a first for 29 year old Whyte who can at last put some of the wisdom picked up as Cameron Brown’s training partner to the test.

In the women’s race, New Zealand’s Erin O’Hara finished in 8th place, some 30 minutes behind winner Mirinda Carfrae of the Australia.

Ironman 70.3 Calgary
1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21km run
Elite Men
1 Kieran Doe NZL 3:58:45
2 Brian Fleischmann USA 4:02:14
3 Paul Matthews AUS 4:03:41
4 Jamie Whyte NZL 4:04:43

Elite Women
1 Mirinda Carfrae AUS 4:21:32
2 Heather Wurtele CAN 4:24:45
3 Linsey Corbin USA 4:30:09
Plus
8 Erin O’Hara NZL 4:53:03