19.01.15

3rd at Ironman Asia Pacific 70.3 Championships - With only a weeks recovery between the Tauranga Half Ironman (last Saturday) and the Asia Pacific Championships it was going to be touch and go to see if I had recovered in time for today's race.

Race day dawned clear and warm after a few over night showers. The weather over the past three weeks in Auckland has been stunning and today was another cracker with temps nearly touching 30°c !

I had another good swim and was in the main group out of the water 1:10 down on swim leader Dylan McNeice. The first 10km on the bike were exceptionally fast as we tried to catch the leaders, just after we crossed Auckland's harbour bridge we joined the leading group and there were now 12 athletes chasing for the lead. Mark Bowstead made his move and slowly increased this over the final 45km arriving in T2 with a 1:40 lead over myself, Craig Alexander, Tim Reed, Leon Griffen, Callum Millward, Dylan McNeice, Clark Ellice, James Seear and Paul Ambrose. I was again in Ironman mode having one of the slowest transitions and lost some vital time to the lead.

Tim Reed, Craig Alexander and Leon Griffen took off after Bowstead and caught the leader around the 8km mark, I was now starting to get into my rhythm and had gained some time back and managed to slip into 5th place after 8km. I then caught a tiring Mark Bowstead and soon after Craig Alexander at the 12km mark moving into a podium position and taking the 3rd spot at the finish

I'm pretty happy with my form 7 weeks out from Ironman New Zealand. I will now be having a few easy days before the training gets under way and where the big miles start.

 

Ironman 70.3 Auckland and Asia-Pacific Championship

Results

Men

1. Tim Reed (AUS) 3:49:54
2. Leon Griffin (AUS) 3:50:08
3. Cameron Brown (NZL) 3:51:19
4. Craig Alexander (AUS) 3:52:38
5. Dylan McNeice (NZL) 3:53:59
6. Callum Millward (NZL) 3:54:31
7. Mark Bowstead (NZL) 3:55:49
8. Clark Ellice (NZL) 3:56:14
9. James Seear (AUS) 3:56:38
10. Paul Ambrose (AUS) 4:00:29

Women

1. Meredith Kessler (USA) 4:20:12
2. Gina Crawford (NZL) 4:23:33
3. Amelia Watkinson (NZL) 4:26:18
4. Anna Russell (NZL) 4:33:28
5. Julia Grant (NZL) 4:40:49
6. Melanie Burke (NZL) 4:42:12
7. Kym Coogan (AUS) 4:44:06
8. Vanessa Murray (NZL) 4:45:53 * F30-34
9. India Kraal (NZL) 4:46:03 * F25-29
10. Natalie Gaskin (NZL) 4:49:22 * F30-34

AVANTI RIDERS