Max Neumann won it on the run and Ellie Salthouse led start to finish on a cool day at the Challenge Shepparton half Sunday.
Neumann passed Josh Amberger midway through the run and finished off with a race-best 1:10:23 half marathon to finish in 3:42:37 with a 3:37 margin of victory over Amberger and 4:29 over third place Steve McKenna.
Neumann added another victory to his CV after a win at there 2020 Ironman Cairns last year.
Salthouse won her fourth straight race with a race-best swim, second fastest bike leg and second swiftest run to finish in 4:09:13 with a 4:49 margin over Penny Slater and 6:19 over third place Grace Thek.
Salthouse remains on a 2021 hot streak after victories at the Hell of the West, Geelong 70.3 and the Husky Triathlon.
Men
With 52 degree Fahrenheit air and 68 degree water, Amberger led the men out of Victoria Park Lake with a 23:24 swim split which gave him a slight lead over Trent Thorpe, 1:11 over Caleb Noble, 1:13 over Neumann and Steven McKenna, 1:14 over Leigh Anderson 1:15 over Mitchell Kibby and 1:16 over Joshua Woolridge.
On the bike, Amberger jetted away from Thorpe, increasing his lead to a minute, then a greater margin over a pack of five men led by Neumann, who quickly passed Thorpe for second place. After a race-best 2:04:17 bike split, Amberger led the field by 1:52 over Neumann and 4:29 over McKenna.
In the first few kilometers, Neumann and McKenna started to whittle away at Amberger’s lead, then Neumann passed Amberger for the lead.
After a definitive race best 1:10:23 half marathon, Neumann crossed the line in 3:42:37 with a 3:37 margin over Amberger (1:16:14 run) and 4:29 over third place McKenna (1:12:32 run split).
Women
Salthouse and Grace Thek swam away from the women’s field with 27:11 and 27:12 splits that gave them a lead over a minute on Kirralee Seidel, Helena Hayes, Moya Johansson and Penny Slater and Renee Kiley.
After their duel in the swim, Salthouse sped away from Thek on the first kilometers of the bike, whereupon Slater and Renee Kiley soon passed Thek. After halfway on the bike, Salthouse had a 1:15 lead on Slater, 2 minutes on Kiley and 3:55 on Thek. After a women’s-best 2:18:13 bike split, Slater whittled Salthouse’s lead down to a minute and a half at T2.
On her way to a women’s second-best 1:20:23 run split, Salthouse finished first in 4:09:13. After absorbing a deficit with a 2:26:52 bike split, Grace Thek unleashed a women’s fastest 1:18:34 run to advance to third place, 6:19 behind runner-up Slater, who closed with a 1:24:11 half marathon.
Challenge Shepparton
Shepparton NSW Australia
April 11, 2021
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Men
1. Max Neumann (AUS) S 24:37 T1 1:08 B 2:04:52 T2 1:35 R 1:10:23 TOT 3:42:37
2. Josh Amberger (AUS) S 23:24 T1 1:04 B 2:04:17 T2 1:16 R 1:16:14 TOT 3:46:14
3. Steven McKenna (AUS) S 24:37 T1 1:01 B 2:07:36 T2 1:19 R 1:12:32 TOT 3:47:06
4. Mitchell Kibby (AUS) S 24:42 T1 1:00 B 2:09:12 T2 1:44 R 1:11:35 TOT 3:48:16
5. Caleb Noble (AUS) S 24:35 T1 1:00 B 2:11:11 T2 1:39 R 1:09:57 TOT 3:48:24
6. Fraser Walsh (AUS) S 24:43 T1 1:04 B 2:07:16 T1 1:30 R 1:15:37 TOT 3:50:12
7. Leigh Anderson (AUS) S 24:38 T1 1:08 B 2:06:29 T2 1:32 R 1:19:47 TOT 3:53:36
8. Levi Maxwell (AUS) S 26:54 T1 00:47 B 2:08:01 T2 1:15 R 1:17:06 TOT 3:54:04
9. Alex Stuart (CAN) S 30:50 T1 1:56 B 2:13:06 T2 1:36 R 1:14:19 TOT 4:01:49 *M30-34
10. Joshua Woolridge (AUS) S 24:43 T1 1:01 B 2:17:07 T2 1:46 R 1:18:37 TOT 4:03:15
Women
1. Ellie Salthouse (AUS) S 27:11 T1 1:04 B 2:18:53 T2 1:40 R 1:20:23 TOT 4:09:13
2. Penny Slater (AUS) S 28:33 T1 1:20 B 2:18:13 T2 1:44 R 1:24:11 TOT 4:14:02
3. Grace Thek (AUS) S 27:12 T2 1:25 B 2:26:52 T2 1:28 R 1:18:34 TOT 4:15:32
4. Renee Kiley (AUS) S 28:33 T2 1:29 B 2:19:34 T2 2:02 R 1:26:27 TOT 4:18:08
5. Laura Armstrong (NZL) S 29:53 T1 1:55 B 2:26:31 T2 1:25 R 1:24:22 TOT 4:24:09
6. Kirralee Seidel (AUS) S 28:26 T1 1:41 B 2:29:13 T2 1:38 R 1:24:29 TOT 4:25:28
7. Moya Johansson (AUS) as 28:30 T1 1:04 B 2:29:48 T2 1:39 R 1:24:28 TOT 4:25:31
8. Helena Hayes (GBR) S 28:28 T1 1:10 B 2:28:37 T2 1:45 R 1:26:19 TOT 4:26:22
