Mike Phillips won his second half Iron distance race of the year and Radka Vodickova won her fourth at the distance at Ironman 70.3 Taupo.
Phillips combined a 2nd-best 24:18 swim, a race-best 2:11:14 bike split and a race-best 1:14:00 half marathon to finish in 3:52:57, with a 2:36 margin of victory over Casey Munro of Australia and 3:16 over 3rd place finisher Tim Reed of Australia.
The victory added to Phillips’ 2018 record which includes a win at Challenge Melbourne, 2nd at the Port of Tauranga half, 3rd at Vietnam 70.3, and 4th at Ironman Switzerland.
Vodickova combined a women’s 2nd-fastest 25:13 swim, a women’s 2nd-best 2:26:25 bike split and women’s 3rd–quickest 1:25:09 run to finish in 4:20:48, with a 6:04 margin of victory over Jocelyn McCauley of the U.S. and 9:42 over 3rd place Rebecca Clarke of New Zealand.
Vodickova’s win was her fourth at the half Iron distance this year, followin victories at Davao 70.3, Vietnam 70.3, and Challenge Asia Pacific three weeks ago.
Men
Mark Bowstead of New Zealand led the pro men’s swim wave with a 24:16 split which gave him a 2 seconds lead on Phillips, 4 seconds on Casey Munro, and 7 seconds on 2016 Ironman 70.3 World Champion Tim Reed of Australia.
Halfway through the bike leg, Bowstead led a closely packed breakaway quartet including Reed, Phillips and Munro, while David Mainwaring trailed by 3:56 in 5th place. After a race-best 2:11:14 bike split, Phillips led the field into T2 11 seconds ahead of Munro, 25 seconds ahead of Reed, and 35 seconds ahead of Bowstead.
After 6.5 kilometers of the run, Phillips and Reed were running side by side, while Munro trailed by a minute and Bowstead by 1:50. After 13km, Phillips broke out into a 25 seconds lead on Reed, 2 minutes on Munro, and 4 minutes on Bowstead.
After a dominating 1:14:00 run, Phillips defended his 2017 Taupo 70.3 title, finishing in 3:52:57 with a 2:36 margin on Munro (1:16:25 run) and 3:16 on 3rd place Reed (1:16:50 run).
Women
Rebecca Clarke of New Zealand led the pro women out of the water with a 24:58 swim split that gave her a 15 seconds lead on Vodickova, and 2:20 on Jocelyn McCauley of the U.S. and Hannah Wells of New Zealand .
Clarke and Vodickova led the women pros at the bike turnaround point at 46km, with McCauley next up 2:15 down. After a huge push, McCauley’s women’s-best 2:24:52 bike leg left the American 1:29 behind Vodickova (2:26:25 bike split) and Clarke (2:26:32 bike split) at T2.
Powering away in the first 3 kilometers of the run, Vodickova took a 1:50 lead on Clarke and 2:40 on McCauley. After a women’s 3rd-best 1:25:09 half marathon, Vodickova finished in 4:20:48 with a 6:04 margin on McCauley (1:29:44 run split) and 9:48 on 3rd place Clarke (1:34:45 run).
Amanda Wilson of Australia made up a lot of ground with a women's-best 1:24:43 run split to take 4th place, 21:19 arrears.
Ironman 70.3 Taupo
Taupo, New Zealand
December 8, 2018
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Mike Phillips (NZL) 3:52:57 S 24:18 T1 2:56 B 2:11:14 T2 00:31 R 1:14:00
2. Casey Munro (AUS) 3:55:33 S 24:20 T1 2:51 B 2:11:19 T2 00:40 R 1:16:25
3. Tim Reed (AUS) 3:56:13 S 24:23 T1 2:49 B 2:11:23 T2 00:51 R 1:16:50
4. Mark Bowstead (NZL) 3:59:36 S 24:16 T1 2:53 B 2:11:34 T2 00:53 R 1:20:01
5. Jack Moody (NZL) 4:01:32 S 26:23 T1 3:16 B 2:15:29 T2 00:55 R 1:15:30
Women
1. Radka Vodickova (CZE) 4:20:48 S 25:13 T1 3:10 B 2:26:25 T2 00:52 R 1:25:09
2. Jocelyn McCauley (USA ) 4:26:52 S 27:18 T1 3:41 B 2:24:52 T2 1:19 R 1:29:44
3. Rebecca Clarke (NZL) 4:30:36 S 24:58 T1 3:29 B 2:26:32 T2 00:55 R 1:34:45
4. Amanda Wilson (AUS) 4:42:07 S 30:38 T1 4:16 B 2:41:43 T2 00:50 R 1:24:43
5. Karen Toulmin (NZL) 5:01:01 S 34:09 T1 3:56 B 2:46:56 T2 1:02 R 1:35:01
