And the 34-year-old from Bend, Oregon didn’t disappoint on a course known as one of the most challenging on the Ironman circuit.

Jackson led from start to finish in defense of her title, winning the race in 9 hours, 18 minutes and 49 seconds. Her first-place time was 15 minutes faster than runner-up Jen Annett, a Canadian pro who visited Lake Placid for the first time. Another newcomer to the race, Sarah Piampiano, of San Rafael, California, placed third in 9:43:24.

Sunday marked the second time Jackson has competed in the Ironman Lake Placid since the men’s and women’s professional fields began alternating here every other year, and one reason she picked the race was to nail down a trip in October to the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, where she finished third in 2016 and fourth a year ago.

But an even bigger factor that led Jackson back to Lake Placid was her love for the area — a place where she had trained with the United States women’s national hockey team until being left off 2002 Olympic roster ultimately turned her sights toward the sport of triathlon. And years after experiencing that heartbreak, Jackson is now 2-for-2 in Lake Placid and on her way to Kona for her third straight world championships.

Heather Jackson leaves the transition area to begin the marathon Sunday in Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

“I loved Lake Placid when I trained here for ice hockey and now I love it even more,” Jackson said. “It feels like coming home even more. To be honest I didn’t have this race on my schedule initially because this was the last weekend to qualify for Kona and I hadn’t qualified yet, so it was a risk to wait for literally the last weekend. I was going to do an Ironman in June, but I didn’t want to miss this race, so I basically risked Kona to be here but fortunately it all worked out.”

Sunday’s cooler temperatures provided a break from the recent heatwave, and proved to be a blessing for the more than 2,300 triathletes who competed. But strong winds made Ironman’s 112-mile bike leg anything but easy, a factor that sat just fine with Jackson.

“I think today was tougher than last time,” she said. “It was so windy out there. It was a headwind and it was gnarly. That was a mental struggle for sure. I was like just push through this and then you’ll get a tailwind, and you didn’t actually get that in the end. It was more like a crosswind. But I said to myself, ‘If you’re hurting, my other competitors are hurting more,’ so I just kept pushing as hard as I could.

“For me, the tougher the conditions, the tougher the course, the better,” Jackson added. “I’m like a strong course racer, not like a flat, fast racer. This course is perfect for me, and then you add in conditions like today — yeah, I love it. For me today was pretty much perfect. This course is ridiculous. It’s the best one out there.”

Two years ago, Jackson finished more than a half hour ahead of her next closest rival. Sunday turned out to be a tighter race, but in the end, she again left little doubt who would finish on top, even though Annett started the marathon run less than 3 minutes off the pace.

Although Annett wasn’t able to catch Jackson, the 33-year-old said Sunday was a mission accomplished. Like Jackson, the resident of Penticton, British Columbia still needed to amass enough professional points to qualify for Kona, and a runner-up result appeared to seal the deal.

“I’m 99 percent sure. It’s amazing,” Annett said. “To be honest, I started racing 10 years ago and I went to Kona with my first Ironman age group win for the 30th anniversary, and now for the 40th anniversary, I’ll be there as a pro. I’ve qualified a couple of times as an age grouper but wasn’t able to go. I missed it by one race a year ago and I’m super-stoked to be pretty confident that I’m going to be able to go this year. I’m hoping to have a good showing there as a pro.”

Following the race, Annett said she was happy to power her way through a difficult course, although she said her run wasn’t quite as good as she hoped it would be.

“It’s beautiful but this course is no joke, that’s for sure,” she said. “The weather was hit and miss. We actually had a little bit of hail on the descent into Keene. It was very, very windy. The run was pretty hard. That hill is mean, and it’s not any better running down it either. It was a solid race. I really wanted to run a little bit faster. I know I was capable of running faster. I was going to try to give her (Jackson) a run for her money but she’s a really solid runner, and running is something I have to work on. Biking is my strength and the running is coming, but I’m still not a sub-3:10 runner. That’s my goal.”

The women’s purse for the race was $40,000 and spread out among the top 10 finishers. Jackson earned $15,000 for the victory and Annett collect $7,500 in prize money as the runner-up.