Sam Long duly claimed victory at IRONMAN Chattanooga last weekend, but not without a major scare.
‘The Big Unit’ cashed in on the late decision to head for Tennessee by claiming an excellent victory and booking a spot at next year’s IRONMAN World Championship in Nice, France.
It appeared at one stage that the 28-year-old star might have a comfortable victory, but the nature of the race – shortened to just bike and run due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene – gave him a major late scare.
Sam was 20 seconds down on Canadian star Jackson Laundry after the bike leg – which was held as a time trial. Importantly he had an advantage of just over two minutes over another Canadian in Cody Beals.
Onto the run and Long believed he was set for a comfortable win deep into the day, but then he got a nasty shock.
Sam Long Chattanooga scare
Writing in a post on his Instagram account, Long explained: “One of the best yet least realized battles of my entire career. @cody.beals and I just went toe to toe for 6:32 minutes.
“The craziest thing is it was a time trial start so knowing exactly where eachother was was extremely difficult. With 4 miles left I heard I had a 2 minute gap and so started to play it safe…however when I got to less than a mile I was told “you gotta go!
“You don’t have the win!” I had to step on things max sprint for the last mile and was able to edge over Cody by 20 seconds. This was one for the books!”
Happy hunting ground for ‘Big Unit’
For Long, this wasn’t just about another race win – it was also a poignant reminder of how far he has come in the last few years. For it was in Chattanooga – on the same day back in 2019 – that he had claimed his first victory at the full distance.
He wrote: “This one is for the process: my entire life has changed since then. It was crazy to go and stay with the same homestay (thank you!) and reflect how my life has changed and how much this sport has given me.
“The best moment was coming home to my family and seeing them. Everything is for them. The city of Chattanooga rallied so big to put on a top notch event just days after Hurricane Helen.”
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