Josh Amberger of Australia and Hannah Wells of New Zealand won the pro titles at Ironman 70.3 Geelong.
Men
Amberger engaged with fellow Aussie Sam Appleton in a tense duel through the swim and bike before Amberger edged away on the run to finish in 3:44:08 with a 31 seconds margin of victory atop a 1 through 12 Australian sweep of a strong field.
Appleton emerged from the swim in 20:45 with a 1 second lead on Amberger followed by 59 seconds on Tim Reed, 1:01 on Luke Bell, 1:12 on Steve McKenna, 1:18 on Tim Van Berkel, 1:21 on Daniel Stein 1:50 on Craig Alexander and 2:28 on Matt Burton.
After a race-best 2:04:40 bike split, Appleton held a 3 seconds lead on Amberger while Matt Burton trailed by 2:51 and Tim Van Berkel stood 4th, 5:20 behind the leader, Tim Reed was 5th, 5:28 arrears and Craig Alexander was 6th, 5:30 behind.
After a 5th-best 1:14:41 half marathon – 35 seconds better than Appleton – Amberger took the finish 31 seconds ahead of Appleton, 4:29 ahead of 3rd place Van Berkel (race-best 1:12:19 run), 4:56 ahead of 4th place Reed (1:12:34 run split), 5:05 ahead of 5th place Burton (1:15:23 run) and 5:36 ahead of 6th place Alexander (1:13:23 run).
Women
After a women’s-best 23:05 swim, Rebecca Clarke of New Zealand led Maighan Brown of Australia by 56 seconds, Hannah Wells of New Zealand by 1:01, Grace Thek of Australia 1:03, Chloe Lane of Australia by 1:14 and Emily Loughnan of Australia by 1:51.
Wells pulled away from the field with a women’s-fastest 2:20:51 bike split – 4:27 better than the next-best effort by Helen Morgan of Australia. Wells led at T2 by a 6:39 seconds margin on Thek (2:27:16 bike), 6:43 on Lane, 2:27:19 bike split),7:58 on Clarke (2:29:31 split), and 9:09 on Emily Loughnan of Australia.
After a 3rd-fastest 1:21:32 half marathon, Wells finished in 4:10:39 with a 5:48 margin of victory over Thek (women’s-best 1:20:37 run), 8:48 on 3rd place Loughnan (women’s second-fastest 1:21:10 run split), 12:15 over 4th place Chloe Lane and 14:09 over 5th-place overall and top age grouper Helen Morgan of Australia.
Ironman 70.3 Geelong
Geelong, Australia
February 23, 2020
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Josh Amberger (AUS) 3:44:08 S 20:46 T1 2:17 2:04:46 T2 1:36 R 1:14:41
2. Sam Appleton (AUS) 3:44:39 S 20:45 T1 2:21 B 2:04:40 T2 1:33 R 1:15:17
3. Tim Van Berkel (AUS) 3:48:37 S 22:03 T1 2:40 B 2:09:56 T2 1:38 R 1:12:19
4. Tim Reed (AUS) 3:49:04 S 21:44 T1 2:29 B 2:10:34 T2 1:41 R 1:12:34
5. Matt Burton (AUS) 2:49:13 S 23:28 T1 2:19 B 2:06:23 T2 1:40 R 1:15:23
6. Craig Alexander (AUS) 3:49:44 S 22:35 T1 2:12 B 2:10:02 T2 1:29 R 1:13:23
Women
1. Hannah Wells (NZL) 4:10:39 S 24:06 T1 2:31 B 2:20:51 T2 1:36 R 1:21:32
2. Grace Thek (AUS) 4:16:27 S 24:08 T1 2:43 B 2:27:16 T2 1:39 R 1:20:37
3. Emily Loughnan (AUS) 4:19:27 S 24:56 T1 2:42 B 2:28:59 T2 1:38 R 1:21:10
4. Chloe Lane (AUS) 4:22:54 S 24:19 T1 2:33 B 2:27:19 T2 2:08 R 1:26:33
5. Helen Morgan (AUS) 4:24:48 S 30:25 T1 3:19 B 2:25:18 T2 1:53 R 1:23:51 * F 30-34.
6. Rebecca Clarke (NZL) 4:27:22 S 23:05 T1 2:30 B 2:29:31 T2 1:46 R 1:30:28
