IRONMAN 70.3 Los Cabos 2022 results

Whilst not as well attended as IRONMAN 70.3 Cozumel, which has cemented itself as the premium long course race in Mexico, Los Cabos offered a chance for athletes to cap off their season in style.

Adriano Engelhardt of Switzerland took full advantage of perhaps some fatigue in the legs of Trevor Foley and Jackson Laundry who raced the IRONMAN 70.3 Worlds to take the win whilst Rach McBride rode strong to emerge victorious down in Mexico.

PRO Men – Engelhardt takes the win

The swim at Los Cabos wasn’t the quickest in the men’s race as Joaquin Pereda made the most of the opportunity to lead out of the water in a home race with a 24:23 split, coming out with fellow countryman David Sanchez.

Behind the two Mexicans, there was a significant split, with T.A.R Hernandez and Marty Andrie close to a minute back. The main pack, which included Jackson Laundry and eventual winner Adriano Engelhardt were swimming in the 25:30 – 26:00 range, with the young American Trevor Foley coming out of the water almost five minutes down.

Out on the bike, it was the Swiss athlete Engelhardt who really lay down his claim for the win, as he rode a 2:33 on a really tough course to out split his nearest competitor Jackson Laundry by a minute, with the majority of the field at a deficit of at least three minutes off the bike, including Foley.

With a three minute lead over the best runner in the field, it wouldn’t be completely foolish to think that Engelhardt would run conservatively whilst trying to hurt Laundry over the final portion of the run.

However, the Swiss was aggressive from the off, and even with Foley closing, as the American passed Laundry at halfway to move into second, Engelhardt was never in danger of losing his lead as he won by over 2:30, running just 70 seconds slower in the end than a fast finishing Foley.

With a 1:09 run split, Foley cemented 2nd and was comfortably ahead of T.A.R Hernandez, who took a great third in front of a home crowd, as Laundry faded off the podium to 4th ahead of Rodrigo Acevedo of Colombia, who did well to move up so strongly after coming out of the water over four minutes down.

PRO Women – McBride victorious in Mexico

It was Rach McBride who led out of the swim with Mollie Hebda of the USA, as the pair managed to put a startling three minutes over third place in the water alone. The swim here in Los Cabos almost served as an individual time trial, with huge gaps separating everyone in the top-10 by minutes.

On to the bike, McBride wasted no time in piling one the pressure, as the lead just kept on extending in what looked set to be quite a lonely day up front for the Canadian. Hebda stayed strong and rode her own race in second, but her lead back to the rest of the field had shrunk coming into T2, with Carly Johann riding well to close the deficit down to 60 seconds back in third place.

In T2, McBride, who won IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder earlier on in the summer, had a 6:43 gap heading out on to the run, and held strong throughout, winning by more than five minutes eventually. This was a great win for McBride, who has also dabbled in trail racing this season, as they proved that they are one to look out for on the start line of any IRONMAN 70.3 race.

On the run, the real moves came from behind, as Australian Kylie Simpson, who was 10:30 down in T2, ran a tremendous race to halve the gap to McBride and come home in second. Behind her, Hebda was rewarded for her tenacity throughout the swim and the bike as she took third place and a podium for the USA.

Sunday November 6, 2022 – 1.9km / 90km / 21.1km

PRO Men