Carrie Lester Wins Gulf Coast 70.3

"Super swimmer Lauren Brandon blitzed the swim in 26:31 which gave her a 2:37 lead on Lester, 2:45 on Rachel Olson, 2:46 on Sarah Alexander and 5:15 on Laura Matthews. Top cyclist and runner Angela Naeth had a disappointing swim that left her 7:57 arrears."

"Halfway through the bike leg, Lester reduced her deficit to Brandon to 1:25, while the rest of the field fell more than five minutes back."

"After a women’s-best 2:14:49, Lester passed Brandon and arrived at T2 just 12 seconds back from her U.S. rival while U.S. competitors Laura Mathews and Sarah Alexander trailed by 5:35 and 5:57 respectively."

"Lester zoomed into the lead in the first mile of the run and never looked back. After a by-far women’s-best 1:29:02 half marathon – 5:07 better than the next best effort by Rachel Olson of the U.S. – Lester finished in 4:15:57 with a 10:31 margin of victory over Brandon (1:39:35 run split) and 12:57 ahead of 3rd place finisher Laura Matthews of the U.S. (1:36:41 run split)."

"Lester thus added another stellar finish after recent wins at Ironman France, Embrunman and Challenge Penticton. Lester also earned four second places last year at Wildflower, Ironman France, Ironman 70.3 Los Cabos and Ironman Arizona."

Article credit to Timothy Carlson of Slowtwitch.com

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