McMahon, Steffen rule Cobra IronMan race

LAPU LAPU, Manila --Canadian Bruce McMahon reigned supreme in the absence of the big guns and Swiss Caroline Steffen blew past everyone to crown herself champion for the third straight year in the Cobra IronMan 70.3 Philippines at the posh Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa here Sunday.

Out to make up for a disappointing fifth place finish a year ago, McMahon made up for a slow swim with an incredible effort in the bike and run stage to rule the men's pro elite division title to the delight of the loud-cheering crowd who enjoyed the nice, cool weather and the festive atmosphere.

McMahon, 33, checked in at three hours and 59.05 seconds but would have been a minute faster if he hadn't walked the final 50-meter stretch to the finish line where he waved to the crowd, shook hands and hugged them and jumped around fittingly to the tune of the rap song titled "Jump Around" by 90s hip-hop band House of Pain.

"I wasn't well prepared and had less motivation last year," said McMahon, who added his triumph here to his pair of victories in Ironman 70.3 races in Boise and Hawaii early in the year.

"The Aussies came out of the swim really strong but I just stuck with them and rode hard in the beginning of the bike and was solid in the rung where I really felt strong," added the two-time triathlon Olympian.

Equally impressive was Steffen, who finished sixth overall behind five men's elite pro by clocking 4:32.34 to snare the women's pro elite title for the third year in row to add her wins this year in the Century Tuna 5150 in Subic and Ironman Asia-Pacific in Melbourne, Australia.

"It's nice to win it the third time, it was a fun race," said Steffen, who bested Aussies Rebecca Hoscke in 4:38.34 and Belinda Granger in 4:48.32.

It helped that Australians Courtney Atkinson and Pete Jacobs, who finished first and second a year ago, opted not to participate this year to prepare for the World Championship in Quebec, Canada later this year.

But Jacobs, a three-time winner in this annual event, said it wouldn't have made a difference it all.

"Brent's conditioning was superb," said Jacobs, who joined the relay races in a team where he is the swimmer, buddy and world-reknowned coach Lance Watson as the cyclist and wife Jaimie as the runner.

Aussie-Dutch Sam Betten took second in 4:07:30 while New Zealand's Cameron Brown finished fourth but took third after Australia's Casey Munro was disqualified for rules infraction.

August Benedicto crowned himself men's Filipino elite champion in 4:34:55, besting last year's winner Banjo Norte of Alaska Tri-Aspire Team in 4:40:44 and Cebu native Philip Duenas in 4:41:59.

It came a day after Benedicto turned 30.

"It's a nice birthday gift for myself," said Benedicto, who thanked his sponsors Unilab, PMi, Brooks, TYR, Polar and CEP, in Filipino.

It also helped that Benedicto trained with German swim coach Yorgan Sach for several months.

"Last year, I lost by three minutes to Banjo (Norte) after he left me behind for 10 minutes after the swim," said Benedicto. "After I trained with coach Yorgen, I improved my swimming and I was just five minutes behind Banjo after the swim that helped me a lot to win this."

Petite Joyette Jopson, Alaska Tri-Aspire Team coach Mathieu O'Halloran's girlfriend, took the women's pro elite crown on her first try in the division, timing in 5:28:31, beating Maria Hodges (5:29:26) and Jenny Rose Guerrero (5:40:40).

There were also some celebrity finishers in Piolo Pascual, Matteo Guidicelli, Ryan Agoncillo, Kuya Kim Atienza, Senator Pia Cayetano, Jennelyn Mercado, Gretchen Fulido, Maricel Laxa, Anthony Pangilinan, Congressman Gilbert Remulla and Formula One star Jenson Button of Great Britain.

The differently abled athletes were also represented as one-armed Isidro Vildisola, one-legged Arnel Aba and Arthus Bucay completed their race. It can be recalled that Vildisola, Aba and Godfrey Tabuena wound up third two years ago.

The event was sponsored by Alaska Milk Corp., Aqua Sphere, Asia Miles, Cathay Pacific, Century Tuna, David’s Salon, Devant, Gatorade, Globe Telecom, GU Energy Gel, Intercare, Kenneth Cobonpue, Asics, 2Go, Oakley, Pinkberry, Prudential Guarantee, Safeguard, Suarez and Sons, Inc., Timex, Finisher Pix and Shangri-La’s Mactan Resorts and Spa.

The Philippine STAR, MultiSport Magazine and ABS-CBN Sports Action are media partners with BE Resorts, Crimson Resort and Spa, Movenpick Resort and Spa and Waterfront Airport Hotel and Casino as hotel partners.