Ten years after his 2005 victory, three-time Ironman World champion and two-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion Craig Alexander won the Port of Tauranga Half triathlon with a time of 3:48:02 – six seconds off the race record set by Graham O’Grady of New Zealand.

Alexander edged runner-up Braden Currie of New Zealand by 69 seconds. In a battle of the ages, 41-year-old Alexander topped 42-year-old Cameron Brown, a 10-time champion of the event, by 1:29.

Alexander was all smiles after winning his second Port of Tauranga title.

“I really enjoyed it,” Alexander told the Bay of Plenty Times. “It is a great place for the crowd to gather and it was a good atmosphere. But it was a tough day. The reason I came back was the run around Mount Maunganui. You rarely get something iconic like that on a course. The Tour de France they get to ride up the Champs Elysees and for me what I remember most is running around the Mount and how hard it was… It’s awesome.”

Gina Crawford took the women’s title in a time of 4:22:05.

“It was a great hit out,” Crawford told the Bay of Plenty Times. “I had a great swim and then a really great bike ride which was important because [runner-up] Michelle Bremer is a really strong cyclist. I was expecting her to catch me but I stayed ahead of her… I hadn’t done any running of the bike for a couple of months so the first lap was quite painful on the legs. Then I came really right and enjoyed the second loop.”

Port of Tauranga Half
Mount Maunganui, New Zealand
January 10, 2015
S 1.9k / B 90k / R 21.1k

Results

Men

1. Craig Alexander (AUS) 3:48:02
2. Braden Currie (NZL) 3:49:11
3. Cameron Brown (NZL) 3:49:31

Women

1. Gina Crawford (NZL) 4:22:05
2. Michelle Bremer (NZL)
3. Julia Grant (NZL)