The Woodlands' Michelle LeBlanc, 38, who won her age group last May at Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas in 9:53:59, will be looking on Sunday at Ironman Arizona in Tempe to earn a return trip to the Ironman World Championship, held each October in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
And if her 2012 finishing time at Texas is any indicator, LeBlanc may also be in a position to establish a new female 35-39 age group record while she's at it.
The previous Ironman Arizona age group winners, according to Ironman.com, are as follows:
2005 - 10:48:50, Jill Hunt, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
2006 - 10:45:48, Joan Hellman, Scottsdale, Arizona
2007 - 10:42:10, Jennifer Chalmers, Huntington Beach, California
2008 (Apr.) - 10:42:07, Julianne Fiocca, Austin, Texas
2008 (Nov.) - 10:33:06, Jordan Cantwell, San Francisco, California
2009 - 10:02:11, Wendy Mader, Fort Collins, Colorado
2010 - 10:09:06, Marie Repec, Gibraltar, Michigan
2011 - 10:02:31, Sandra Fantini, France
2012 - 10:14:11, Audra Adair, Sierra Vista, Arizona
When LeBlanc competed at the Ironman World Championship in October 2012, she was eighth in her age group in 10:19:14.
Below is how Ironman Arizona female 35-39 age group winners fared at the following Ironman World Championship:
2005 - Hunt did not compete at Kona.
2006 - 12:49:01, Hellman was 56th in her division.
2007 - Chalmers did not finish after the bike.
2008 - 11:24:39, Fiocca was 23rd in her division.
2009 - 12:55:28, Cantwell was 64th in her division.
2010 - 10:58:36, Mader was 27th in her division.
2011 - 11:03:35, Repec was 34th in her division
2012 - Fantini did not compete at Kona.
2013 - 10:54:44, Adair was 44th in her division.
Slated to return from last year's top female 35-39 age group performers are the following athletes:
3. 10:16:35 - Sherianne Nelson, Scottsdale, AZ
6. 10:54:30 - Mary Knott, Gilbert, AZ
21. 11:50:48 - Laura Baugh, Colorado Springs, CO
Nobody at last year's Ironman Arizona who finished in under 12 hours in the women's 30-34 age group is slated to "age up" and appear in the 35-39 division on Sunday.
A sleeper, though, could be New York's Christine Kenney, 35, who was 11th at Kona last month in 10:13:23.
Nelson (above), who was third at Ironman Arizona last year, was just 17 spots behind Kenney in 30th with a time of 10:33:26.
No other female 35-39 age group competitor at this year's Kona who was under 11 hours in entered in Sunday's Ironman Arizona.
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