Ironman Boulder — Joe Gambles

RACE STATS

Distance 140.6 Miles

Altitude 5430'

Temp High/Low 59/93 Fahrenheit

After a very hectic winter renovating and moving into a new house, I decided not to return to Cairns for the Asia Pacific Champs and instead begin my Kona qualification campaign at home in Boulder Colorado. Even though I knew this choice would mean I have to race another Ironman to get enough points for Kona, I felt the benefits of racing at home and having knowledge of the course could set me up for a strong race.

The swim couldn't have gone any better. I got off to clean fast start and after 200 meters I was sitting comfortably in a pack of three. Kevin Collington set a strong pace the entire swim and upon exiting the water we had over 4 minutes on the chase group.

I felt good at the start of the bike but couldn't shake Kevin until mile 45 where I was able to put a little time between us. At mile 65 I was joined by the chase group of 4 which included Chris Leiferman and at the 85 mile mark the group was down to 3 when Leiferman put the pressure on, breaking away for the lead.

Coming in off the bike I had a little over 3 minutes to reach the two in the lead. Temperatures were close to 90 at this point and the run course had very little shade. Knowing this I settled into my own pace and paid close attention to my hydration. At mile 5 I managed to move into 2nd but I was still 4 minutes back from Chris. I held a consistent pace and although I managed to move into 3 minutes off the lead with three miles to go, I had to be content with finishing 2nd. Congrats to Chris Leiferman for a hard fought race and to Patrick McKeon for running up to third.

There's nothing like racing at home. Seeing my wife and son on the course gave me that extra lift, something that is very welcome during an Ironman distance race. Knowing that they would be at the finish line made me push to the end and leave nothing out on the course.

Thank you to the volunteers, supporters, all my friends and training partners who came out to the course and to Jeff Yingling for the photos. To my amazing sponsors and partners, Hoka one one, Quintana Roo, Compassion Champs, Masimo, Wattie Ink, Rudy Project, Compressport, Stages, Blue Seventy, Dash, Baker Institute, and Zealios.