At the Ironman South American Championships victor Canadian Brent McMahon broke the course record and came within a whisker off the current Ironman record, just missing it by 12 seconds.
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A group of ten men exited the swim within a minute of each other, and led by Marcus Fernandes (BRA), including Brent McMahon and Tim Don (GBR).
Early into the bike the skies opened and began to pound competitors with rain making for treacherous and cold conditions through most of the bike. Amorelli, Wil Clarke (GBR), Collington, Fontana, Mathews, and McMahon took advantage of the circumstances and began to pull away from the field. At 55 km’s, Amorelli and McMahon separated themselves to the front of the race with Mathews, Collington, and Don falling back but still remaining within striking distance of the lead pair. Nearing the completion of the first half of the bike, McMahon managed to create a minute and half gap on Don, Mathews, Amorelli, and Collington
By the time McMahon dismounted the bike he had a lead of over 10 minutes on Don and over 12 minutes on both Collington and Mathews as the rest of the field well back, 20 minutes off the leaders’ pace.
A 2:42:42 marathon cemented his victory and meant McMahon had captured the 2016 Ironman South American Championship in a course record time of 7:46:10, and the second fastest time at an Ironman race. Don and Collington finished second and third after fading to over 18 minutes back of McMahon’s winning time.