It was an incredible day for the women at Ironman Arizona on Sunday.
Germany's Julia Gajer passed San Francisco's Meredith Kessler (@mbkessler) late in the run to capture the 10th Ironman Arizona in a third-best ever time of eight hours, 52 minutes and 49 seconds (8:52:49).
Gajer, who was third at Challenge Roth and fourth at Ironman Wales earlier this year, becomes the 10th different winner at the event since its beginning in April 2005.
Finishing less than three minutes behind Gajer, Kessler was the fifth woman ever to break nine hours (8:55:47) at Ironman Arizona - bettering her course best of 9:00:14 two years ago -- as she finished runner-up for the second straight year.
Denmark's Michelle Vesterby (@VesterbyTri) also broke nine hours - following Kessler across the finish line less than two minutes later in 8:57:24. She was third after finishing fifth in 2011 with the previous 10th best time in Ironman Arizona history in 9:11:23.
Kessler's growth as a long-distance triathlete can be marked simply by her appearances at Ironman Arizona.
2006 - 11:23:31, 9th in W25-29, 43rd overall
2007 - 11:50:25, 7th in W25-29, 49th overall
2008 - 11:11:31, 2nd in W25-29, 27th overall (April)
2008 - 9:56:41, 1st in W30-34, 10th overall (November)
2009 - 9:37:09, 7th as WPRO
2010 - 9:15:01, 4th as WPRO
2011 - 9:00:14, 3rd as WPRO
2012 - 9:06:41, 2nd as WPRO
2013 - 8:55:47, 2nd as WPRO
California's Sarah Piampiano (@SarahPiampiano) equaled her highest Ironman finish ever - equaling IM New York City '12 and IM Austria '13 - with her fourth place showing and the 9:05:57 finish beat her best Iron distance time by 93 seconds.
Sweden's Asa Lundstrom (@asalundstromtri) was fifth in 9:12:20. She finished second earlier this year at Ironman Austria and won the inaugural Ironman Lake Tahoe in late September.
Arizona's Lisa Ribes (@lisaribes), Colorado's Uli Bromme (@UliBromme) and Pennsylvania's Beth Shutt (@bethshutt), who finished seventh through ninth, all improved their course bests from 16 (Broome) to 39 minutes (Shutt).
In the amateur ranks, it was also very much a record-setting day, especially for Colorado's Sonja Wieck (@gosonja).
The stay-at-home Mom and triathlon coach not only smashed her personal best with her third straight sub-10 hour performance (all in 2013), but she also bested the previous female amateur record at Ironman Arizona by almost 17 minutes.
The previous best of 9:52:31 was set two years ago by California's Christina Jackson, who turned pro this year and won the Leadman 125 in April.
Below is Wieck's progression as an Ironman athlete:
2009 - 10:47:58, Ironman Canada
2010 - 10:37:02, Ironman Coeur D'Alene
2010 - 10:17:53, Ironman World Championship
2010 - 10:22:10, Ironman Arizona
2011 - 10:08:44, Ironman World Championship
2011 - 10:00:33, Ironman Cozumel
2012 - 10:29:28, Ironman Coeur D'Alene
2012 - 10:51:17, Ironman World Championship
2013 - 09:50:49, Ironman Brazil
2013 - 09:54:42, Ironman World Championship
2013 - 09:35:54, Ironman Arizona
Wieck also had teamed up with today's 45-49 women's age group winner Michelle Ford (@Michelleford6p), of Aurora, Colorado, to help guide Patricia Walsh to her 2011 Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas finish.
Kansas City's Lynsey Fugate (@lynseyfugate5) led all female age groupers out of the water in 54:22, equivalent to the best age group swim time from a year ago; however, Wieck would sieze the lead on the bike that she would not yield the remainder of the day.
Her 4:56:35 would be the first time any amateur female would go under five hours on the Ironman Arizona bike course and bettered her previous best time - from May's Ironman Brasil Florianopolis - of 5:08:47 by more than 12 minutes.
Massachusetts' Shaina Damm (5:02:11), The Woodlands, Texas' Michelle LeBlanc (5:02:21) and Ford (5:02:29) would all also break the previous best female amateur bike split of 5:04:44, set in 2009 by Gibraltar, Michigan's Marie Repec.
Off the bike, Wieck had Ford by a minute and 38 seconds and LeBlanc by just over seven minutes.
Even though Ford safely had the 45-49 age group sewn up, she quickly fell out of contention in the chase for the top amateur female and LeBlanc soon moved into second before the second split at mile 3.75.
Wieck and LeBlanc had been on the same course twice in 2012 with LeBlanc coming out ahead with a 9:08 advantage at IM 70.3 Texas and a 32-minute gulf at Kona in what was the worst of 11 Ironmans to date.
LeBlanc kept it within eight minutes through the first half of the run, but Wieck poured it on in the back half for a 16-minute, two-second overall amateur female win.
Among all amateur females, Wieck's 3:30:14 marathon was second only to Laval, Quebec's Elisabeth Ruel, 45-49, who gained nine places on the run within her age group with a blistering 3:23:09.
It was the second fastest amateur female marathon ever at Ironman Arizona behind Arlington, Virginia's Kendra Goffredo's 3:21:24 two years ago. (Goffredo's race report)
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