Portman, Busko win Ironman CdA

Jim Meehan/SR reports on the 2016 IronmanCdA:

There were no pros for the first time at the 14th annual Ironman Coeur d’Alene on Sunday, putting the spotlight on age-group athletes.

Amateurs often squeeze in training sessions around full-time jobs and hectic schedules. Women’s champion Morgan Busko is in the final year of her internal medicine residency at New York University. Eighty-hour work weeks are routine.

While age-groupers often compete in the same races as pros, they rarely receive pre- or post-race media attention.

That changed Sunday for men’s champion Kevin Portmann, who completed the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run in 9 hours, 28 minutes and 29 seconds, and Busko, who timed in 10:24:45.

Busko, who took the lead about 5 miles into the run, moved up the leaderboard on the bike, despite steady 20-25 mph winds. Her bike time of 5:38:26 was the lowest of the top contenders. She pulled away from everyone but Patterson in the marathon.

Busko’s husband, Billy, was waiting for her near the finish line. He finished 39th overall in 10:16:23.

“I think he had me by a couple of minutes, so the marriage stays alive,” Morgan cracked.

Busko earned one of the 65 berths up for grabs to the world championships in October. She’s finished second, third and fourth in her age group in previous trips to Kona.

“I’ve thought about it (turning pro) but I work about 80 hours a week so I don’t think it’s realistic to try to compete at that level right now,” said Busko, who ran at Duke before discovering triathlons in her junior year. “We get one day off a week so I usually do a long workout that day and I wake up pretty early to do workouts on some of the other days.”

Patterson and her husband work in real estate and compete in Ironmans. More here (subscription).

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