This year, Matt Hanson has had constant battles with his back.
On Sunday, the 33-year-old from Storm Lake, Iowa, needed only to battle his competition.
Feeling better physically than he has all year, Hanson won the Ironman Boulder triathlon in a course record time of 7 hours, 57 minutes, 3 seconds. The previous record was 8:07:55, set by Chris Leiferman a year ago.
“Itap fantastic,” Hanson said. “The competition was definitely tough and anytime you can find yourself at the front of the race, itap a special day. Podiums are few and far between, so finding yourself at the front of the race is great.”
Boulder residents Kennett Peterson and Tim O’Donnell placed second and third, respectively, and earned qualifying spots for the Ironman world championship on Oct. 12 in Kona, Hawaii. Hanson had already qualified for Kona.
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