York, Kirkland Lead Area Pack of 22 at Ironman 70.3 Austin

            Twenty-two residents of the Woodlands MultiSport coverage area took on one of the last half iron distance races of the season – the Ironman 70.3 Austin -- on Sunday.

            The Woodlands’ Ed York and Montgomery’s Wendi Kirkland both led the way with fifth place age group finishes.

            Competing in the 45-49 age group and 78^th overall among all age-groupers, York posted his second sub 5-hour half iron distance race of the season with a time of 4:42:07 – the second best time of 2010 from the area.

            Finish Strong Racing’s York gave up four minutes and 12 seconds to fourth-place finisher Ken Pacileo before the bike, but came within five seconds of the Broomfield, Connecticut native as the two exited T2.  Pacileo then held off York on the run as the duo recorded the sixth and eighth fastest half marathon times in their division.

Team Sport Beans/NTTC Club Team member Wendi Kirkland of Montgomery posted a 5:17:50 with seventh-best division times on both the bike and the run.

The only other top 20 age group performance of the day belonged to The Woodlands’ Sasja Jackson as she sliced almost 20 minutes off of her previous best with a 5:33:23 showing. 

The Conroe Triathletes’ two previous half iron distance finishes were at the last two 5430 Long Course Triathlon events in Boulder, Colorado (6:04:51 in 2008 and 5:53:16 in 2009).

York, Kirkland and Jackson are all signed up for the inaugural Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas next May.

The top five locally in the water yesterday were:

0:30:35 – Debra Castell, W25-29, Spring (7^th best of 2010)

0:31:28 – Joel Pugh, M30-34, Spring (10^th)

0:32:46 – Joshua Scott, M35-39, Spring (15^th)

0:32:58 – Scott Peterson, M25-29, The Woodlands (16^th)

0:33:28 – Derek Cooper, M25-29, Spring (19^th)

Kirkland and York also entered the list with the 23^rd and 25^th best half iron distance swim times of the season for area athletes.

The top five on the bike were:

2:22:54 – Ed York, M45-49, The Woodlands (2^nd best of 2010)

2:33:58 – Jorge Lemus, M35-39, The Woodlands (8^th)

2:41:02 – Scott Peterson, M25-29, The Woodlands (13^th)

2:42:08 – Scott Jensen, M30-34, The Woodlands (14^th)

2:42:13 – Derek Cooper, M25-29, Spring (15^th)

The top five on the run were as follows:

1:38:35 – Ed York, M45-49, The Woodlands (6^th best of 2010)

1:41:53 – Scott Peterson, M25-29, The Woodlands (8^th)

1:45:06 – Derek Cooper, M25-29, Spring (13^th)

1:50:25 – Wendi Kirkland, F25-29, Montgomery (16^th)

1:56:09 – Sasja Jackson, F35-39, The Woodlands (23^rd)

A number of area athletes were making their half iron distance debut including Outrival Racing’s Jorge Lemus of The Woodlands as well as trio of Conroe Triathletes – Montgomery’s Amy Antley, Tomball’s Heather Mallette and Houston’s Dan Bolta.