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Brent McMahon runaway winner at Placid

Former 2 time Olympic triathlete and current professional Ironman athlete Brent McMahon trains on and off with PCS coaches Ron Jacks and Ryan Clouston when training in Victoria.  Brent has been training towards his swim portion with PCS since 2011.  On the weekend at Ironman Lake Placid, a hilly professional-only Ironman race in the US and Ironman Hawaii qualifier, Brent won handily in course-record time.  The following story is originally from slowtwitch.com:

Canadian Brent McMahon ran away from the field at Ironman Lake Placid, topping two-time Lake Placid winner Andy Potts by 23:42 and 3rd place Justin Daerr by 31:36. 

In an Ironman for male pros only, McMahon won the $8,000 top prize from a $40,000 purse.

McMahon began his day with a 5th place 50:12 swim that was 12 seconds behind swim leader James Capparell, 7 seconds behind TJ Tollakson and 2 seconds behind Potts. After 100 miles of the bike leg, McMahon took over the lead from Tollakson. McMahon then hit T2 after a race-best 4:35:25 bike split which gave him a 1:06 lead on Tollakson and 1:42 on Potts. 

McMahon took off like a streak and by mile 3 of the run had a 4 minutes lead on Potts and 5 minutes on Tollakson. Halfway through the marathon, McMahon had a 6:54 lead on Potts and a 26:14 lead on Justin Daerr as Tollakson fell out of the top 10. 

After 20 miles, Potts was 14 minutes off the pace and falling. After a race-best 2:43:40 run, McMahon finished in 8:13:53 with his remaining rivals a virtual time zone behind. 

While McMahon's overall time may not compare with his four sub-8 hour performances, considering the difficulty of the course, his performance at Lake Placid is revealed to be an extraordinary achievement. 

Still at the peak of his powers in 2004, five-time ITU World Champion Simon Lessing set the Ironman Lake Placid race record of 8:23:12 and the run record of 2:46:39. In the intervening 12 years, no one has come close. On Sunday, McMahon broke Lessing's race record by 9 minutes and 19 seconds. On a rather hilly run course, McMahon topped Lessing's impressive marathon by precisely 3 minutes. 

McMahon’s stated goal was to cinch a Kona qualifying spot, which he did handily. After two Olympic appearances, a Pan Am Games silver and bronze, and four sub-8 hour Ironman performances highlighted by his 7:46:10 at the 2016 Ironman Brazil, McMahon’s prime goal is to finally perform to his ability on the Big Island.

Ironman Lake Placid
Lake Placid, New York
July 23, 2017
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Pro Men

1. Brent McMahon (CAN) 8:13:53
2. Andy Potts (USA) 8:37:46
3. Justin Daerr (USA) 8:45:40
4. Gregory Close (USA) 8:57:09
5. Lucas Pozzetta (USA) 9:02:55
6. Paul Ambrose (AUS) 9:05:54
7. Daniel Clarke (CAN) 9:07:54
8. Colin Laughery (USA) 9:09:34
9. Chad Holderbaum (USA) 9:12:55 
10. James Capparell (USA) 9:16:31

Season: