TFR athelte Ben Kanute secures podium in Chattanooga
It was a day to remember for Trek Factory Racing’s Ben Kanute, who scored an incredible second place in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Ben came into the race as a bit of a dark horse, with most looking to TFR teammate Tim Reed to repeat his win from last year.
Ben has had this race set as a goal for a while, and certainly showed he can turn goals into reality.
"It ended up being just about a perfect day for me. I knew that I wanted to take advantage of the up river swim, and I was able to establish a bigger gap than expected exiting the water. My plan was to push the beginning of the bike, especially at Lookout Mountain. It is a challenging climb, and this is where the real gaps were formed. From there I pushed on at my planned wattage. The group behind was looking at each other and not pushing too hard, and this played to my advantage."
"I did not expect to have just under a four min gap to the group behind, but I wanted to take full advantage of it. I made sure to pace the run as best I could. Javier Gomez was exceptional over the half marathon, but I was able to put up a good enough run split to take home second! The feeling of this is amazing. I am at a loss for words for how to describe it, but I am super proud and excited to be able to stand on the podium at a World Championship on USA soil."
"The 70.3 World Championships has been circled on my calendar for the entire year. A World Championship on home soil is always special, and this made the race in Chattanooga a big goal for me!"
Teammate Tim Reed did not have the day he was looking for, finishing in 14th. A serious fever the week prior all but made a repeat performance too far a goal, however Tim has been known to surprise when he is down. Tim now looks toward the final part of his season, and a trip to Kona.
Photos courtesy of Talbot Cox.
