Australians Craig Alexander and Belinda Granger took top honors at the Ironman 70.3 Hawaii on the Kona Coast to show the youngsters that the 40-plus crowd still has the right stuff.
Pro Men
Alexander emerged from the Pacific waters in 25:11, right behind fellow Aussies Luke Bell and Paul Matthews (25:06) and U.S. pro Damon Barnett (25:10).
Alexander, able to call upon his experience on the Queen K highway during his 3 wins, a 2nd and a 4th at Ironman Hawaii, smashed the bike with a 2:13:59 split that gave him a 4 minutes 16 seconds lead on Santa Monica, California pro Damon Barnett, 4:45 on Aussie pro Paul Matthews, 9:30 on Luke Bell and 10:32 on Timothy Marr of Honolulu.
With a big lead on a hot and windy day, Alexander ran just what was needed, a tied-for-2nd-best 1:23:08 half marathon, which brought him to the line in 4:05:43 with a 6:30 winning margin over runner-up Paul Matthews, and 8:31 on 3rd-place finisher Damon Barnett.
Luke Bell ran a 1:23:40 to take 4th in 4:15:44 and David Condon of the U.S. took 5th in 4:20:09.
Jose Jeuland of France posted a race-fastest 1:23:04 run to place 6th in 4:21:00
Pro Women
Home town Kailua-Kona favorite Bree Wee took off like a house afire, setting fastest swim (28:29) and by far the fastest bike (2:30:31) to take a 7:41 lead on Belinda Granger and a 12:07 lead on New Zealand Pro Julia Grant at T2.
On the run, Wee doled out her big lead carefully and seemed to be on target for the win until disaster struck. After 3.3 miles, Granger had whittled Wee’s lead to 6 minutes, with Julia Grant 9:46 down in 3rd. By 7.2 miles, Granger was 4:27 back with Grant 7:11 in arrears. But at Mile 8.5 Wee missed a turn for the Hell’s Kitchen and ran half a mile the wrong way before she was told she had to backtrack to get on course. Before Wee got back on course, Granger and Grant swept ahead. At 10 miles, Granger had a 2:21 lead on Grant and 3:57 on Wee.
At the finish, Granger’s 2nd-best 1:33:58 run brought her to the finish in 4:44:36. Grant’s race-fastest 1:31:51 run brought her to the finish in 2nd place, 2:10 behind Granger. Running an extra mile due to navigation error, Wee ran 1:48:08 to earn the final spot on the podium, 6:29 back of Granger.
Age Group
David Condon of San Francisco, California combined a 30:49 swim, 2:17:49 bike split and 1:26:58 run to finish in 4:20:09, taking 1st overall amateur, 1st in men’s 35-39 and 5th overall including the pros.
Laura Siddall of Great Britain was first overall amateur woman and second woman overall with a 31:33 swim, 2:36:10 bike split and 1:33:32 run to finish in 4:45:56 – 1:20 behind Granger.
Ironman 70.3 Hawaii
Kona, Hawaii
June 1, 2013
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Craig Alexander (AUS) 4:05:43
2. Paul Matthews (AUS) 4:12:13
3. Damon Barnett (USA) 4:14:14
4. Luke Bell (AUS) 4:15:444.
5. David Condon (USA) 4:20:09 * M35-39
6. Jose Jeuland (FRA) 4:21:00
7. Rob Lea (USA) 4:21:06 * M30-34
8. Benjamin Williams (USA) 4:22:31
9. Jose Augusta De Azevedo Antunes Filho (BRA) 4:23:47
10. John Newsom (NZL) 4:25:49 *M35-39
.Women
1. Belinda Granger (AUS) 4:44:36
2. Laura Siddall (GBR) 4:45:56 * F30-34
3. Julia Grant (NZL) 4:46:46
4. Bree Wee (USA) 4:51:05
5. Michelle Andres (USA) 4:53:08 * F35-39
6. Adrienne Hengels (USA) 4:56:59
7. Brooke Brown (CAN) 5:01:33
8. Sarah Pearce-Gieck (CAN) 5:04:48 * F35-39
9. Nell Christine Stephenson (USA) 5:06:05 * F35-39
10. Alessandra Battig (USA) 5:07:53 * F18-24
