Fraser Cartmell overcame Philip Graves' lead off the bike and Bella Bayliss topped Tamsin Lewis by 1:50 to win the Ironman 70.3 UK crowns Sunday on one of the most difficult courses at the distance.

Defending champion Graves took the lead with a race-best 2:30:24 bike that gave him a 3-minute lead over Cartmell, but Cartmell turned the tables with a third-best 1:17:06 run that outpaced Graves by 5:52 and gave the challenger a 3:24 margin of victory.

Cartmell's finishing time of 4:17:03 - 20 minutes slower than the winning time at the reputedly tough Wildflower half Ironman - underlined the tremendous difficulty of the relentlessly hilly Ironman 70.3 UK course tabbed the "toughest 70.3 in the world." The 56-mile bike has a total of more than 2,000 meters of climbing that demands the best of the toughest cyclists in the sport. The run, which has almost equally tough hills, offers little solace.

The win was Cartmell's third in the five-year history of the event.

Bayliss overcame a 1:30 post-bike deficit to eventual third place finisher Emma-Kate Lidbury and a 1:16 margin to runner-up Tamsin Lewis with a second-best on the day 1:29:37 run that left her 1:50 up on Lewis and 2:34 ahead of Lidbury at the finish.

Bayliss finished in 4:53:52 and took her second Ironman 70.3 UK title.

Ironman 70.3 UK
Wimbleball Lake, Exmoor National Park, Somerset, Great Britain
June 20, 2010
S 1.2 mi./ B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Provisional Results

Men

1. Fraser Cartmell (SCO) 4:17:03
2. Philip Graves (GBR) 4:20:27
3. Jonas Djurback (SWE) 4:24:32
4. Faris Al-Sultan (GER) 4:26:23
5. Rich Allen (GBR) 4:26:46
6. Stephen Bayliss (GBR) 4:27:07
7. Joel Jameson (GBR) 4:29:09
8. Paul Ambrose (GBR) 4:32:35
9. Aleksandar Sorenson-Markovic (DEN) 4:35:27
10. Tristan Shipsides (GBR) 4:39:17
11. Jasper Blake (CAN) 4:40:11

Women

1. Bella Bayliss (SCO) 4:53:52
2. Tamsin Lewis (AUS) 4:55:42
3. Emma Kate-Lidbury (GBR) 4:56:26
4. Yvette Grice (GBR) 5:03:44
5. Alison Rowatt ( SCO) 5:05:46 * F25-29
6. Joanna Carritt (GBR) 5:09:31
7. Tracy Cook (GBR) 5:20:45 * F35-39
8. Kate George (GBR) 5:24:05 * F30-34
9. Helen Smith (GBR) 5:30:14 * F35-39
10. Libby Cameron (GBR) 5:35:23 * F30-34

*denotes Amateur