Tim Berkel took the win at 70.3 Busselton just 6 days after finishing second to Joe Gambles at 70.3 Port Macquarie. Jo Lawn had won the women's race in Port Macquarie and added another fine win to her impressive resume.
Kiwi Guy Crawford led the men out of the water but Bryan Rhodes ad David Dellow were quite close.
Crawford then put on a show on the bike and held off all other competitors until T2. His gap of 4 minutes though would not be enough and a host of guys started to run him down.
At the end Tim Berkel proved to be the strongest and took the win. Matty White and Tim Reed rounded out the podium.
"Its been a great 6 days with 2nd at Port Macqaurie 70.3 and then backing up to take the win for Busso 70.3," said Berkel to slowtwitch. "I'm very happy with the my form at minute and I cant wait to get back
to the U.S to try a crack at a win there."
Jo Lawn was first out of the water among the women with a 30 second lead over a small pack that included Rebekah Keat, Elly Franks and Belinda Granger.
Franks and Granger though managed to pass Lawn and at the end of the bike segment they had a 3 minute lead over Lawn and Keat.
During the run Lawn and Keat steadily took time back and with 7k to go the new leader was Lawn. Lawn then held on to take her second title in 6 days.
"I was definitely relaxed; I came to Australia to do two solid training workouts to get ready for Ironman Texas. I was looking to increase my fitness and testing my running and I raced both races on my training bike (Cervelo P3) as my goal was just to treat them as a training sessions. Once I had won 70.3 Port there was a feeling that training was going well. It was awesome to come back to Australia as the support I got in both races was amazing," said Lawn to slowtwitch.
Ironman 70.3 Busselton
Busselton, Australia / May 7, 2011
1.2m swim / 56m bike / 13.1m run
Top men
1. Tim Berkel (AUS) 3:51:27
2. Matty White (AUS) 3:52:50
3. Tim Reed (AUS) 3:53:59
4. Josh Rix (AUS) 3:56:05
5. Jamie Whyte (NZL) 3:57:10
6. Guy Crawford (NZL) 3:58:15
7. Mitchell Anderson (AUS) 3:59:55 *AG
8. Leon Griffin (AUS) 4:00:09
9. Lajos Vargas (AUS) 4:01:14 *AG
10. Paul Mackay (AUS) 4:01:28
Top women
1. Jo Lawn (NZL) 4:13:23
2. Felicity Sheedy Ryan (AUS) 4:15:21
3. Rebekah Keat (AUS) 4:15:55
4. Belinda Granger (AUS) 4:16:35
5. Elly Franks (AUS) 4:34:33
6. Christie Sym (AUS) 4:26:56
7. Madeleine Oldfield 4:29:06
8. Katrina Mercer (AUS) 4:29:26
9. Rachael Smith (AUS) 4:30:55
10. Janine Willis (AUS) 4:37:04 * AG W35-39
Image of Tim Berkel courtesy of Shawn Smith of Melbourne Photographer, Blinq Photography
