Sunderji Wins Ironman Ottawa at Tenth Attempt
It rained from the gun to the finish. Kiyan Sunderji, a 23-year-old from Calgary, won his first Ironman in Ottawa on 2 August, at the tenth attempt. The women’s race went to Ariane Lalancette of Quebec City, racing the full distance for the first time.
Tenth start, first win
Sunderji crossed the line at Major’s Hill Park in 8:26:53. He swam the 3.8 km in 57:57, rode 180 km in 4:27:37 and ran the marathon in 2:56:55.
He came out of the water slower than Luke Evans, who swam 54:18 for second on that leg. The bike reversed the order. That 4:27:37 put Sunderji in front, and the marathon closed the race out without a scare late on.
From halfway he carried a bag of sweets and did not eat a single one. “I love holding them, I do not eat them, it drives me,” he said afterwards. On the win itself he was brief: “I have dreamed about this since I was a little kid. My dad raced in 2004.”
Luke Evans, the defending champion, finished second in 8:38:20 (54:18 / 4:40:13 / 2:58:53). He was only fifth off the bike, and the marathon moved him up three places. Third went to Trevor Harley in 8:40:18, with splits of 1:06:57 / 4:34:31 / 2:52:40. After more than eight hours of racing, 1 minute and 58 seconds separated second from third.
Lalancette wins on debut
Ariane Lalancette of Quebec City won the women’s race in 9:09:33 in her first ever full-distance start. It put her 17th in the open classification.
She got there against the current. After the swim (1:00:28) she sat 22nd, and the bike (4:46:10) dropped her to 30th. A 3:17:09 marathon pulled her into the top twenty and delivered the win by 43 minutes.
Second was Robyn Hardage in 9:52:33 (1:07:17 / 5:06:35 / 3:32:13), winner of the 45-49 category and 93rd woman overall. She finished her first Ironman at Lake Placid in 2011 and has raced the distance more than a dozen times since. Lake Placid also produced her 10:16:30, the fastest time in the 40-44 category and a slot at the 2024 world championship in France, where she placed fifth in 10:42:27. In Ottawa she ran nearly 24 minutes quicker. Third was Hannah Fraser of Owen Sound (9:54:08).
| Place | Men | Time | Women | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kiyan Sunderji | 8:26:53 | Ariane Lalancette | 9:09:33 |
| 2. | Luke Evans | 8:38:20 | Robyn Hardage | 9:52:33 |
| 3. | Trevor Harley | 8:40:18 | Hannah Fraser | 9:54:08 |
Rain, Ottawa and three thousand starters
This was the second edition of Ironman Ottawa. Around 3000 athletes lined up near Britannia Beach and 2407 of them finished. The swim went off at six in the morning in rain that barely let up all day, and the crowds turned out anyway. The course covered the standard 3.8 km swim in the Outaouais river and 180 km on the bike. The run went through the city centre, along the Rideau canal and across the experimental farm.
A year on, roles reversed
Twelve months earlier the result read the other way round. Evans won in 8:40:22, and the fastest woman was Aliisa Heiskanen in 9:32:46. This time Evans dropped to second and last year’s women’s winner was off the podium. The winning time was also 13 minutes quicker than in the first edition, in conditions nobody would call helpful.
Sunderji is 23 years old with nine winless starts behind him. Between the ninth attempt and the tenth he did not change the method. The result changed.