Athlete Race Recap: IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship

On Friday, October 28, 2022, Jacquie Craggett and Rebecca Dottolo raced in the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship!  This race location moves around the world year-to-year; this year, it was hosted in St. George, Utah, United States.

In order to qualify for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, athletes must finish an IRONMAN 70.3 race and be in a high enough finish position in their respective age group to be offered a slot to the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship.  Jacquie met this requirement at her first-ever IRONMAN 70.3 race, IRONMAN 70.3 Memphis, in October 2021.  Rebecca qualified for this race with her finish at IRONMAN 70.3 Chattanooga in May 2022.

The course for this race in St. George is pretty challenging; the bike and run are both very hilly.  In training, we sought to prepare as much as possible for the specific demands of this course.

For Jacquie, this was a bit of a challenge; she lives in Dallas, Texas and she does not have access to terrain similar to what is in St. George.  Despite this, we incorporated a lot of skill work and included hills when we could.  This repetitive practice of handling and tactical skills (for both the  bike and run) helped prepare Jacquie the best we could for race day.

Rebecca lives in Upstate New York, where hills are much more accessible.  She was able to plan courses that could come close to replicating the demand she would face in St. George.

Jacquie, who is a life-long swimmer, truly enjoyed the swim and said it was over “so quickly”.  On the bike she focused on what we had talked about and practiced in training; she focused on what she was currently doing, kept her legs spinning, and controlled her efforts.  She was able to ride all but three minutes of the bike course!  This is EXCELLENT for someone who literally hadn’t ever ridden hills like this before.  On the run, she stuck to a run/walk strategy and adjusted as necessary based on how her body was feeling.  She was able to finish feeling strong and reported that the finish line was - and I quote - “AMAZING!”

Qualifying for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship was Rebecca’s A-Goal this year, and was a very big dream of hers.  Being in St. George for this race felt surreal and exciting; she couldn't believe that she was living her dream!  LIke Jacquie, she really enjoyed the swim and was sad when it was over.  On the bike, she put all of the specific training we had done to work: She pushed the descents, climbed with strength, and kept her effort steady.  On the run, Rebecca pushed herself and managed the discomfort that comes from giving a race your hardest effort.  Throughout the day, she was her fiance and son holding signs and cheering for her, which gave her a big boost.  Crossing the finish line was a huge rush and was also paradoxical for her; she was happy to be done since she had been working so hard, but was also sad because this meant that her dream race was over.

Both Jacquie and Rebecca worked VERY hard to get to this day and to prepare for this race.  Congratulations to both of them!