Craig Alexander showed no signs of jet lag as he captured the 2010 Ironman 70.3 Geelong title despite just recently returning from the USA. The women's race was won by Caroline Steffen.
The men
Clayton Fettell was first out of the water with a superb swim and built up a 2 minute cushion over a group that contained Craig Alexander, Tim Berkel and Leon Griffin by the 20 mile mark of the bike. Fettell continued to push the pace and ended up with a very respectable 2:12 bike split and was first to rack his bike in T2. Alexander arrived in T2 more than 4 minutes after Fettell, but he quickly found his running legs and started to chase the leader. Griffin and Berkel were also running well and the race was on. Alexander caught Fettell at mile 9 of the run and a few miles later crossed the line victorious in a time of 3:53:15. Griffin and Berkel rounded out the podium, and long time leader Fettell droppd down to 5th place.
The women
After the swim there was a battle for the lead between Lisa Marangon, Caroline Steffen and defending champion Samantha Warriner, but Steffen started to pull away from her competitors and actually was riding well among the men. Steffen, who had finished 4th in Clearwater in November, put the race out of reach with a course record 2:20:38 bike that gave her a 4-minute lead, then held on with a third-best 1:25:59 run to hit the tape in 4:14:32, 5:00 in front of runner-up Lester, another 17 seconds in front of third-place Marangon, and Warriner fading to 4th with a 1:29:31 run that gave her a 4:23:01 finish.
Ironman 70.3 Geelong
Geelong, Victoria, Australia
February 7, 2010
Swim 1.2 m / Bike 56 m / Run 13.1 m
Top 10 men
1. Craig Alexander (AUS) 3:53:15
2. Leon Griffin (AUS) 3:54:35
3. Tim Berkel (AUS) 3:56:10
4. Peter Schokman (AUS) 3:56:25
5. Clayton Fettell (AUS) 3:56:39
6. Matty White (AUS) 4:00:02
7. Paul Ambrose (GBR) 4:00:39
8. Jason Shortis (AUS) 4:01:12
9. Damien Angus (AUS) 4:01:51
10. Jason Crowther (AUS) 4:02:42
Top 10 women
1. Caroline Steffen (SUI) 4:14:32
2. Carrie Lester (AUS) 4:19:32
3. Lisa Marangon (AUS) 4:19:49
4. Samantha Warriner (NZL) 4:23:01
5. Suzanne Alway (AUS) 4:28:33
6. Nicole Ward (AUS) 4:30:29
7. Elly Franks (AUS) 4:31:10
8. Renee Nicholls (AUS) 4:33:58
9. Sarah Bryant (NZL) 4:35:38
10. Kirsten Molloy (AUS) 4:36:06
