AGE-GROUP FEMALE LAURELEE NELSON
Triathlon Magazine Canada Long-Distance Age Group Triathlete of the Year
From Kelowna, Nelson took the women’s 65 to 69 age group at the Ironman World Championship, finishing in an impressive 12:47:52.
In what turned out to be the final one of her career, Heather Wurtele had a year she won’t soon forget. Wurtele, who has raced as a professional since 2007, had a pair of wins and three additional podium finishes in 2019, capping 12 years of marked excellence and consistency in the sport.
A native of Vernon, B.C., Wurtele started the year off in March at the Ironman 70.3 event in Campeche, Mexico, winning for the third straight time in a tight race with American Jacalyn Hering.
The 40-year-old Wurtele followed that up by placing third at the Ironman 70.3 North American Pro Championship in St. George, second at 70.3 Victoria, and another third at 70.3 Coeur d’Alene across the months of May and June.
Then in July, Wurtele won Ironman Canada for the first time in what was the final edition of the event in Whistler, B.C. She raced from the front all day, and built a big enough lead on the bike to comfortably hold off fellow Canadian Jen Annett to win by seven minutes.
Wurtele’s husband, Trevor, won the race the first year it moved to Whistler in 2013. The event will return to its roots in 2020, moving back to Penticton where it had been held from 1983 to 2012.
The win in Whistler was the seventh full-distance title of her career, and first since 2014, earning her a spot at the Ironman World Championship in October that she would decline.
A few months later, right around the time of the race in Kona, the couple announced they were retiring from the professional side of the sport after 12 years.
In addition to her seven Ironman victories, Wurtele finishes her career with 25 half-distance wins, three 70.3 World Championship podiums, and an eighth-place finish in Kona in 2011 to her name.—JS
You can read about Tara Norton’s exploits over the last few years on our Back Page Podium (p.56). The 48-year-old from Toronto returned to Kona this year to defend her Ultraman title (see News, p.54).