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The professional field for Ironman 70.3 on the Sunshine Coast was stacked with local and international talent and the large crowd who packed onto the Mooloolaba Esplanade on Sunday were treated to a tight, exciting race.
Over 1600 age group athletes also competed in near perfect conditions, in what is the first significant triathlon of the Australian season.
For those Roarers unfamiliar with triathlons, half ironman or long-course events such as this follow the familiar Olympic recipe of a swim, a bike ride and a run, but are a bit longer – 1.9 kilometres in the surf, 90 kilometres on the bike and a half marathon (21km) run makes for a race that the top pros expect to finish in under four hours.
At last year’s inaugural event, Pete Jacobs, the then-reigning Ironman World Champion, destroyed the competition, winning by over seven minutes from fellow Aussies Clayton Fettell and Casey Munro. All three podium placers returned for this year’s event, along with Olympic teammates Brad Kahlefeld and Courtney Atkinson, multiple Ironman Champion Luke Bell, and International Triathlon Union (ITU) favourite Dan Wilson, who was looking to make a mark in his first 70.3 event.
The women’s field was one of the strongest seen at any event in Australia this year, with last year’s champion Gina Crawford being joined by Swiss favourite Caroline Steffen, and two-time 70.3 winner this season, Radka Vodickova.
The men’s race was hotly contested from the off, with a pack of around 10 athletes forming in the swim. A more exclusive group of Atkinson, Wilson, Jacobs, Kahlefelt, Bell, Munro and Fettell formed on the bike and opened up a significant gap.
The initial pace on the run was furious, and a thrilling finish ensued when debutant Dan Wilson took the lead on the second lap, pulling Courtney Atkinson with him. A shootout ensued in the last kilometre and Atkinson used all his experience at this distance to pip Wilson on the line with a time of 3:45:36. Pete Jacobs, who just couldn’t hold on in the run to defend his title, finished two minutes back in third.
Meanwhile, in the women’s race, the athletes were strung out from the off, with Vodickova, who last week finished sixth in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Mont Treblant, setting a blistering pace in the surf, taking a 15-second advantage into T1 from locally based Swiss star Steffen.
These two swapped places on the bike and started the run together, where Steffen destroyed the field, recording the fastest run of the day by over 4 minutes, to comfortably win in a time of 4:16:21.
Vodickova held on to take second, her third Ironman 70.3 podium of 2014, with Gina Crawford a further three minutes back in third.
In a tragic footnote, sincere condolences must go to the family of the age group athlete who died on the course.
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