A year ago Andrew Starykowicz was in the hospital after being hit while on a training ride. He never once gave up the dream to return to his beloved sport as a triathlete however, and today he set a torrid pace and was unrelenting in taking the Maytag Ironman 70.3 Steelhead Triathlon in Benton Harbor with an impressive win on a breathtaking day.
The 35 year old professional long-distance triathlete from the Chicago suburb of Long Grove, Illinois pushed across the finish line at a crowded Jean Klock Park Beach with a time of 3:46:57 to take the title, beating out a hard-charging Matt Hanson who finished in second today.
“Starky,” as he is called, won the event wire-to-wire through the swim, bike race and rounding it out with a powerful run. Starykowicz attended Purdue where he earned a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering and also played on the water polo team. He holds the record for the fastest iron-distance race by an American man, set at Ironman Florida in 2013 with a time of 7:55:22. He holds the bike split iron-distance record at 4:02:17 and the Ironman 70.3 World Championship bike split record from the 2009 race.
Starky was also named an All-American in swimming and triathlon while in college, and has won races at Ironman Florida, Ironman 70.3 Puerto Rico, and Rev3 South Carolina & Cedar Point.
He told the crowd after winning today, “I gave it everything I had all day, just like everybody out here, and the sun was just shining on me all day, and I raced to the maximum of my ability.” Liking his proximity to his Chicagoland home, Staykowicz added, “To put it all together in a race so close to home is just awesome.”
Second place finisher Matt Hanson came in with a time of 3:49:08. Hanson is 31 years old originally from West Concord, Minnesota currently living in Storm Lake, Iowa. He is a three time Ironman champion and a 70.3 champion winner as well. Rounding out the trophy stand was Australian Ironman Champion and Wisconsin Ironman Champ Joe Gambles, who finished third with a time of 3:51:21. The 35 year old Gambles is an English-born, Australian.
The women’s champion today was 33 year old Heather Jackson from Exeter, New Hampshire, a professional triathlete and track cyclist. She finished strong to beat both Alissa Doehla and the reigning North American Ironman Champion Jodie Robertson to take top honors. Jackson finished with a time of 4:16:54.
Jackson told the crowd she was “running scared” the entire day. She says, “I’m usually coming from pretty far back, but have been working to improve and was able to get to the front pretty early on.” She admits, “That is not normal, so for me it’s such a different experience racing from the front — you’re just scared the whole day, and I think it was more stressful and takes more energy out of you.” It was Jackson’s first trip back to the Maytag Steelhead run in five years, however she notes, “It was exactly as I remembered it. The fans are incredible, the support of all the volunteers out there, and with police blocking the roads, it was amazing.”
Finishing second in the women’s line up was Alissa Doehla, and that’s outstanding for her considering this is her rookie season as a professional triathlete. She hails from New Haven, Indiana and currently lives in Tryon, North Carolina. Her rookie season has been pretty powerful with a 2nd place finish in June at the Eagleman Ironman 70.3 and last month’s 3rd place finish at the Ironman 70.3 in Racine, Wisconsin. Alissa’s time today was 4:19:48.
Third place goes to the reigning North American Ironman Champion Jodie Robertson who finished with a time of 4:23:49. Robertson grew up on Long Island, NY and focused on distance running until 2015. She qualified for the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials, and placed 4th at the 2015 US Marathon Championships. In 2016 she raced in her first season as a professional triathlete placing 2nd at Ironman Texas and qualifying for the Ironman World Championships. In April of this year she won the Ironman Texas North American Champions title, a race that was won on the men’s card by today’s second place winner Matt Hanson.
Today’s Maytag Ironman Steelhead 70.3 race is the 15th annual edition of the event featuring a 1.2-mile Lake Michigan swim, a 56-mile bike ride and a 13.1-mile run, and there were nearly 2,000 entrants from around the world in the chase for the winner’s podium.
In the photo above are shown (l-to-r) Matt Hanson, Andrew Starykowicz and Joe Gambles, men’s top finishers today and in the photo below are women’s champ Heather Jackson and men’s champ Andrew Starykowicz at the Maytag Ironman 70.3 Steelhead Triathlon in Benton Harbor.
