A dominant performance at Ironman 70.3 Pucon nailed American Sam Long the first of the 2024 PTO Athlete of the Month awards.
Others in the running included Tauranga Half winners Hannah Berry and Jack Moody, along with Pucon champs Long and Marta Sanchez. A panel of triathlon media that includes Global Triathlon Network (GTN), Triathlete, Triathlon Magazine (yes, that’s us!) and Tri-Mag.de then pick their 1,2,3 from the shortlist – awarding 3 points for #1, 2 pts for #2 and 1 pt for #3. With triathlon fans also voting via PTO social handles, Long picked up 14 points to place first ahead of Berry and Sanchez in second and third respectively.
For Long, the race in Pucon served as a way to stay in shape through the holidays, and proves that the training changes he’s made bode well for his first race in the T100 Triathlon World Tour in Miami.
“Pucon was a great time,” he said. “I used the race as a motivator to keep me pushing over the holidays, where the tendency is to fall off. I was most pleased with a well rounded race and a great run on a very hard course. I changed several things in my training program and it showed me that these were positive changes.”
As the defending champ at Clash Miami, Long is looking forward to kicking the season off in Florida next month.
“The T100 Tour is super exciting. It’s our usual PTO 100km races, however the series adds in a demand of durability and consistency that I have shown great strengths in,” he said. “I believe in myself and my team to persevere all season. Miami and the Homestead-Miami Speedway is the perfect starting point; I know this course well, have won there in the past, and just have to keep the momentum going.”
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