Australian Tim Reed and Meredith Kessler of the United States won the men's and women's elite titles at Ironman 70.3 Auckland, which serves as the Asia-Pacific 70.3 Championship.

Reed ran away from the field, covering the final half marathon in a race-best 1:11:47 split that brought him to the line in 3:49:54 with a 30 seconds margin of victory and a nice season-opening win after his 2014 wrap-up - 3rd place at prestigious Challenge Bahrain.

Except for a few brief surges to the front on the bike by top rival Gina Crawford, Kessler led wire-to-wire, combining race-best splits of 25:22 swim, 2:26:52 bike leg and 1:25:21 run to finish in 4:20:12 with a 3:21 margin of victory over runner-up Crawford.

Men

Kiwi Dylan McNeice led the men’s swim in a time of 23:14, followed 2 seconds later by James Seear of Australia, then a tight group including Matt Franklin of New Zealand (+32s), Clark Ellice (+35s) Joe Lampe (+37s) and Callum Millward (+39s). Further back in another closely packed group were Craig Alexander (+1:06) Mark Bowstead, Paul Ambrose, Leon Griffin, Tim Van Berkel, Tim Reed, Cam Brown and Terenzo Bozzone (+1:16).

On a sunny, nearly windless blue skies day, Bowstead made an early move to the front at the halfway point and held off the field on his way to a race-best 2:10:17 bike leg. While the prime contenders in this talented field weren’t worrying about Bowstead’s modest run prowess, there was some urgency to stay in touch for the decisive run. Surprisingly, home town hero Terenzo Bozzone and top 10 Ironman World Championship finisher Tim Van Berkel of Australia immediately fell off the back and never contended.

At first, last week’s Tauranga Half winner Craig Alexander took the lead at 28k and had a 6 seconds advantage over a group of 10 including Tim Reed, Cam Brown, Leon Griffin and Mark Bowstead. By 44k, Bowstead decided to play the kamikaze cyclist and seized a 40 seconds lead on the chasers who also included Dylan McNeice, Paul Ambrose, Clark Ellice, James Seear and Matt Franklin. At 70k, Bowstead drew away gradually to a 1:04 lead and at T2 he had a 1:36 lead on the pack.

While Bowstead probably needed a 5 minute lead to win, he wasn't in surrender mode and took off at a steady sub-1:20 half marathon pace. Behind the young Kiwi, Reed and Alexander led the chasers while 10-time Ironman New Zealand champion Cam Brown and 2006 ITU Duathlon World Champion Leon Griffin started to carve their way out of mid-pack on a quest for the podium. At 5k, Bowstead held grimly to a 15-seconds lead on Reed, who had passed Crowie. In the next 2k, Reed wrested the lead from Bowstead, who held off Alexander until halfway mark. At that point, Griffin, on his way to a 2nd-fastest 1:12:10 run split, charged past Bowstead and Alexander into second and came within 9 seconds of Reed. At 13k, Cam Brown, on his way to a 3rd-best 1:13:01 run, passed Alexander for 3rd, while a recharged Reed stopped his bleeding lead and started pushing back.

At the finish, Reed had a 30 seconds margin of victory over runner-up Leon Griffin. Cameron Brown, a legend long before he turned a still-swift 42 years of age, took the final spot on the podium, 1:25 back of the winner. Alexander, perhaps missing an extra gear after his impressive win the week before, ran a 4th-fastest 1:14:33 to take 4th place, 1:19 after Brown. After his brave bike leg, Bowstead managed a respectable 1:19:23 run to take 7th place.

“I had to ride really hard to come back into the mix after the swim,” said Reed, “and it turned into a run race. After I passed Bowstead I had a 300 meter gap. When Griff cut that down, I went back to work. This was a great way to start the year.”

“I had to be aggressive to get into the game on the bike,” said Griffin. “But I am a bit short on fitness and tried to conserve some energy and wait for a decent run. You always try to win but Tim was strong today and I was happy to reap the rewards of a smart race and take 2nd.”

Women

Unlike the men’s contest, there was just a little back and forth and just two contenders in the women's race.

After a race-best 25:22 swim gave her a 1:18 lead on Crawford, Kessler started adding to that margin until she suffered a mishap that let Crawford back into the game.

“No race is perfect – it is often controlled chaos,” said Kessler. “I had a nice lead until I hit a bump at 12 kilometers and unfortunately my chain went flying and I lost a few minutes.” Kessler briefly lost her lead to her New Zealand rival. “After that hiccup, I realized it could have been worse and I needed to pull it together mentally,” said Kessler. “I went as hard as I could to get the lead back.”

Crawford also suffered a mishap when her bike became trapped in a small ridge by the side of the road near the Harbour Bridge. “I had to slow down and lost Meredith and from that point I never saw her again,” said Crawford.

Kessler carved out a 90 seconds lead coming into T2, whereupon she handled another nerve-wracking little issue with aplomb. When her bike shoes kept hitting the ground when pushing her bike into transition, she simply picked up her bike and ran with it on the carpet until she reached the rack.

After that, Kessler unleashed a race-best 1:25:21 run that was 1:19 better than Crawford’s half marathon and gave the three-time Ironman New Zealand champ a 3:21 margin of victory over Crawford. Amelia Watkinson of New Zealand took 3rd, 6:06 behind the winner.

“At the age of 36, I am at the point end of my career and to gather as many of these titles as possible is really rewarding,” said Kessler.

Ironman 70.3 Auckland and Asia-Pacific Championship
Auckland, New Zealand
January 18, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

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