Tomorrow (May 6) all eyes will be on Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee as he aims to qualify for the 2017 70.3 World Champs at the Ironman 70.3 St George North American Pro championships in Utah, USA.
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A win would give him automatic qualification, while a top 3 place leaves him well positioned to get a slot ahead of the first top 40 qualifying cut-off on June 4th.
But it won’t be an easy race to win. Conditions will be pretty warm with the temperatures expecting to be between 80-85°F (26.67-29.4°C). The water temperature is expected to be in the low to mid-60°F
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It’s a lake swim in Sand Hollow Reservoir, while the bike and run courses, say Ironman, ‘are two of the most challenging on the Ironman 70.3 circuit.’ The bike leg’s 3,536ft of climbing includes the signature climb up and through Snow Canyon State Park, while the run’s 1267ft of climbing includes scaling Red Hills Parkway, through the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve.
See course maps here
The start list includes Canadian Lionel Sanders who set a new Ironman record at IM Arizona 2016, former 70.3 World Champion Sebastian Kienle (Germany) and Brent McMahon (Canada) who came 5th at St George in 2016.
In the pro field Alistair is joined by fellow Brits Mark Buckingham, Stuart Hayes and Tim Don, who used to race Alistair on the ITU circuit and has already got some 2017 70.3 victories under his belt, including Ironman 70.3 Campeche and Ironman 70.3 Liuzhou. Last year he finished 7th at the Ironman 70.3 World Champs.
Alistair’s debut at middle distance took place on April 21 at Gloria Challenge Mogán Gran Canaria, where he won comfortably in 04:03:09, stripping 10:35mins off the course record.
The Ironman 70.3 World Championships will take place at Chattanooga, Tennessee, on September 9.