Jodie Cunnama of Great Britain and Romain Guillaume of France won the overall titles at Ironman 70.3 South Africa.
Women
Jodie Cunnama won her seventh Ironman 70.3 South Africa pro title and household bragging rights over husband James Cunnama who was the runner-up in the men’s contest. Jodie won wire-to-wire with a women’s-best 26:31 swim and women’s-fastest 2:38:59 bike split capped off with a women’s 4th-best 1:29:04 run.
Jodie C opened the day with a 26:31 swim that gave her a 2:40 lead over Cheetham, 2:43 over Katja Konschak of Germany, 2:48 over Agnieszka Jerzyk of Poland, 5:21 over Jeanne Collonge of France, 6:04 over Annah Watkinson of South Africa and 6:51 over Kristin Moeller of Germany.
After her women’s-best bike split that was 1:12 better than Cheetham’s next-best 2:40:11, Cunnama led Cheetham by 3:52, Jerzyk by 8:32, Collonge by 11:17, Watkinson by 13:17 and Moeller by 14:58.
After a women’s 4th-best run, Cunnama finished in 4:39:49 with a 1:02 margin of victory over fellow Brit Susie Cheetham, who whittled Cunnama’s lead at T2 by 2:50 with a women’s 2nd-fastest 1:26:08 run. Jerzyk closed with a women’s 3rd-best 1:27:46 half marathon to take 3rd, 8 minutes arrears of the winner. Moeller closed hard with a women’s-best 1:23:26 run to take 4th, 1:16 behind Jerzyk and 4:25 ahead of 5th-place Watkinson.
Men
Romain Guillaume started his day with a 5th-place swim 7 seconds behind Mark Threlfall of Great Britain and 1:02 ahead of eventual top challenger James Cunnama.
Guillaume took charge immediately on the bike leg and arrived at T2 with a by-far race-best 2:17:25 bike split which was 5:37 better than the next-best effort by James Cunnama. Starting the run, Guillaume led Threlfall by 6:01, South Africans Cunnama and Kyle Buckingham and Netherland’s Evert Scheltinga by equal 6:27 margins, and Stuart Marais of South Africa by 9:37.
With such a big cushion, Guillaume could afford to relax on the run and finished with a 4th-best 1:20:39 run that surrendered 3:47 to Cunnama’s race-best 1:16:52 split. Still, the Frenchman finished in 4:08:58 with a 2:29 margin of victory over Cunnama and 5:28 over 3rd-place finisher Kyle Buckingham, 6:52 over 4th place Marais and 7:50 over 5th place Threlfall.
Ironman 70.3 South Africa
Buffalo City, South Africa
January 29, 2017
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Women
1. Jodie Cunnama (GBR) 4:39:49
2. Susie Cheetham (GBR) 4:40:51
3. Jerzyk Agnieszka (POL) 4:47:49
4. Kristin Moeller (GER) 4:49:05
5. Annah Watkinson (RSA) 4:53:30
6. Jeanne Collonge (FRA) 4:54:33
7. Jade Nicole (RSA) 5:06:26 * F25-29
8. Magda Nieuwoudt (RSA) 5:06:50 * F25-29
9. Katja Konschak (GER) 5:08:26
10. Sarah Chemaly (RSA) 5:11:19 * F25-29
Men
1. Romain Guillaume (FRA) 408:58
2. James Cunnama (RSA) 4:11:27
3. Kyle Buckingham (RSA) 4:14:30
4. Stuart Marais (RSA) 4:15:54
5. Mark Threlfall (GBR) 4:16:52
6. Evert Scheltinga (NED) 4:18:04
7. Travis Johnston (RSA) 4:25:33
8. Johannes Moldan (GER) 4:26:31
9. Balazs Csoke (HUN) 4:30:57
10. Clinton Gravett (RSA) 4:32:16
