There was a brand new race on Sunday and it was American duo Jason West and Grace Alexander to took the first ever pro titles at 70.3 Northern California in Redding.
Plenty of North America’s big names took part, especially on the men’s side, where Sam Long (USA) and Lionel Sanders (CAN) renewed their rivalry for the 26th time in a pro race (including the Collins Cup). Long won that particular battle here to make it 14-12 between them but in truth they never really threatened the win as they came third and fourth respectively, with Jackson Laundry (CAN) well ahead of them in second.
For the women, Alexander was the clear favourite – especially after Grace Thek was a late withdrawal, and she more than justified that status.
She was second after the swim to Rebecca Clarke, the New Zealander the only non-North American in the female field, and then took control on the bike before closing things out on the run.
August temperatures in the area can often be well above 100 Fahrenheit but thankfully they had dipped this weekend and the water temp was 78 for the start of the swim in what were pleasant early-morning conditions in the tranquil waters of Whiskeytown Lake.
And here’s how things played out from that point…
Men’s race – West runs away with it
Gregory Harper (USA) 25:41 and Brennen Smith (CAN), just two seconds behind, led the way on the swim from an all-American group which included Simon Shi, West and Jeremy Maclean.
Laundry was +54s, Long was 19th at +2:43, just ahead of Sanders in 20th at +2:52.
For the first 10 miles on the bike Maclean, Laundry and West were ahead but Long and Sanders initially closed slightly.
Maclean and Laundry then dropped West while Sanders and Long were up to seventh and eighth respectively but were still just over two minutes adrift.
That pattern continued – two thirds of the way in Laundry and Maclean were a minute and a half up on West, with a further minute back to Long and Sanders in fourth and fifth.
And in the latter stages Laundry got away – really putting the power down to put significant time into Maclean (+2:02), West (+3:15), Long (+3:54) and Sanders (+3:54) and by the time they arrived in T2 the rest were way out of contention for a podium place barring a miracle.
On paper West was the fastest runner of the front five and in the early stages of the half marathon he was by far the quickest man on course. Inside the first 5km he worked his way to second, 1:44 back, while Maclean went the other way and out of the reckoning.
But neither Long nor Sanders were making ground and midway through the run it was all about Laundry vs West, just 11 seconds between them.
The catch came soon after and West didn’t look back.
He crossed the line in 3:39:23 after a 1:08:49 half marathon for his first victory of the season.
Laundry was second at +1:49, with Long and Sanders in third and fourth.
Women’s race – Alexander makes it three
Clarke was quickest in the swim in 27:22, with Alexander 28 seconds behind and Rachel Olson (USA) third at +52s.
Alexander and Clarke were soon nearly a minute ahead of the rest on the bike but then Alexander went solo – 38 seconds up on Clarke after 18 miles with two minutes and more back to the rest.
After 36 miles that had more than doubled, Alexander leading by nearly two minutes from Clarke, with Clare Dasso (USA) and Emma Skaug (CAN) three minutes back and Lisa Becharas (USA) not far behind them.
Alexander continued to boss it and by T2 she was 2:26 in front of both Skaug and Clarke, with Dasso at +2:55 and Becharas at +3:11. Like the men’s race at this point, the front five were way clear of the rest.
The run briefly looked like it could change things – midway through Clarke had closed to within 1:31 of Alexander but that held steady pretty much all the way to the line.
Alexander stopped the clock in 4:17:02 for the third win in an already impressive season after 70.3 successes at Chattanooga and Gulf Coast.
Clarke was second and Dasso third.
IRONMAN 70.3 Northern California results
Sunday 16 August 2026 – 1.9km, 90km, 21.1km
Full results and splits will appear here shortly…
