On a hot and humid day in Laguna Phuket, current Ironman 70.3 World Champion Tim Reed of Australia edged two-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion Michael Raelert by 15 seconds at Ironman 70.3 Thailand. And while Amelia Watkinson had no trouble with the women pros, she had to push hard to finish 67 seconds faster than British age grouper Imogen Simmonds, who started in a later wave .

Men

Eric Watson, an Aussie based in Bahrain, led the men’s swim in 22:24, which gave him a 5 seconds lead on Raelert, 9 seconds on Reed, 11 seconds on Alberto Casadei of Italy, 14 seconds on Stuart Hayes of Great Britain, 1:49 on Lucas Amirault of France, 1:51 on Tim Van Berkel of Australia, and 1:53 on Ritchie Nicholls of Great Britain.

Immediately Raelert and Reed rocketed away from the rest and had a 4 minute lead by 18km on the bike leg. Halfway on the 90 kilometer bike, the duo led Matt Burton and Van Berkel by 4:20, 5:40 on Casadei, and 7:20 on Ricky Swindale and Lucas Amirault.

At the end of race-best and 2nd-best bike splits of 2:04:57 and 2:05:01, Reed and Raelert had obliterated the field, leading Burton and Van Berkel by 8:53 and 8:55, and Amirault and Watson by 13 to 15 minutes.

At 4km of the run, Raelert led Reed by 7 seconds, but by 10.8km Reed passed Raelert and led his German rival by 26 seconds. Midway through the half marathon, Reed expanded his lead to 30 seconds and by 14.5km increased his margin to 42 seconds. Nearly 10 minutes arrears, Van Berkel carved out a 30 seconds lead on Burton.

From that point to the finish, Reed slowly let Raelert whittle his lead. But after a race-best 1:17:39 half marathon that was 21 second better than the German, Reed finished in 3:48:33 with a 15 seconds margin of victory over Raelert and 16:59 on 3rd-place Van Berkel, who held off 4th place Burton by 1:02.

"I came in a bit nervous because I had not done much running because I wanted to get my cycling back on track which worked well because I felt great on the bike," Reed to Ironman media. ""Michael really pushed hard and together we were able to open a margin on the field and make it a race between the two of us. I am stoked to get a win over Michael. I have so much respect for him as a competitor."

Reed's win capped off the best year of his career - the Ironman 70.3 World championship, the Asia-Pacific Ironman 70.3 championship, a course record debut at Ironman Australia and three Ironman 70.3 titles.

Women

Watkinson led the pro women through the swim by 7 seconds over Emma Pallant of Great Britain, 3:12 over Dimity-Lee Duke of Australia, 3:15 over Annaliese Jeffries of Australia, 3:20 over Martina Dogana of Italy, and 3:33 over Parys Edwards of Great Britain.

In the first 15km, Thailand-based New Zealander Watkinson and two-time ITU Duathlon World Champion Emma Pallant rocketed away together to a 3 minute lead on the chasers. By 18km, Watkinson pulled away to a 2:15 lead on Pallant, 4:12 on Duke, and 5:18 on German Imke Oelerich.

By the end of the 90 kilometer bike leg, Watkinson’s women pro’s best 2:20:43 split gave her a forbidding 8:29 lead on Duke, 8:33 on Pallant who dropped out in the heat, 8:34 on Oelerich, 11:50 on Edwards, and 14:21 on Jeffries and Dogana.

With a huge lead in the bank, Watkinson went on cruise control to a women’s 2nd-fastest 1:31:19 half marathon that brought her to the finish in 4:21:01, giving her a 9:04 margin of victory over 2nd place pro Duke (1:31:31 run) and 10:01 over 3rd-place pro Parys Edwards (women’s-fastest 1:29:05 run).

"I was super-happy to cross the finish line first with a good pro field," says Watkinson. "I had a nice lead on the bike. I've enjoyed that as my race tactic this season to go hard on the bike and it worked well today."

While many would say that the age grouper started on a separate wave and should not be considered to be in the same race, nonetheless 23-year-old amateur Imogen Simmonds of Great Britain completed the same course in a time of 4:22:08, which was the second-fastest women's time of the day and gave her the age group women's overall title.

Ironman 70.3 Thailand
Laguna Phuket, Thailand
November 27, 2016
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Tim Reed (AUS) 3:48:33
2. Michael Raelert (GER) 3:48:48
3. Tim Van Berkel (AUS) 4:05:32
4. Matt Burton (AUS) 4:06:34
5. Eric Watson (AUS) 4:10:18
6. Lucas Amirault (FRA) 4:11:54
7. Massimo Cigana (ITA) 4:13:21
8. Ricky Swindale (AUS) 4:19:36
9. Jaray Jeranai (THA) 4:24:02
10. August Benedicto (PHL) 4:27:09

Women

1. Amelia Watkinson (NZL) 4:21:01
2. Imogen Simmonds (GBR) 4:22:08 *F18-24
3. Dimity-Lee Duke (AUS) 4:30:05
4. Parys Edwards (GBR) 4:31:02
5. Imke Oelerich (GER) 4:35:16
6. Annaliese Jeffries (AUS) 4:36:46
7. Anna Halasz (HUN) 4:41:27
8. Kerry Mulholland (AUS) 4:42:49 *F25-29
9. Jennifer Zenker (GER) 4:45:51 *F30-34
10. Jacqui Waters (AUS) 4:51:49 *F25-29