Gregory Barnaby Surges To Top of IRONMAN Pro Series With Win in Western Australia; Marta Sanchez Nails the Women’s Title in Bussleton

He sure seemed like he was calm, cool and collected heading into today’s race, and Italy’s Gregory Barnaby proved it wasn’t just a show as he surged to an impressive win at IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia today. He’s now at the top of the IRONMAN Pro Series standings with one race left – the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo in two weeks. For the women, Spain’s Marta Sanchez continued her dream season with a solid win down under, ensuring she’ll get to race in front of a home-country crowd at next year’s 70.3 worlds in Marbella.

All the talk of a world-record time disappeared long before the start once everyone had a look at the ocean – the first leg of the race promised choppy water conditions and the wind was slated to pick up through the morning.

Barnaby’s First IRONMAN Title

While he’s taken a couple of pro half-distance events, today was Barnaby’s first IRONMAN title, which seems like a fitting way to move to the top of the standings. The Italian was at the tail end of a group of five out of the water led by American Marc Dubrick, with Olympians Jamie Riddle (RSA) and Kenji Nener (JAP), also part of the group, with Scotland’s Cameron Main fourth out of the water just ahead.

By 20 km into the bike there was a group of 11 up in front as Swedish Uber-biker Robert Kallin began to push the pace. At the halfway point of the flat, fast bike course it was Riddle who was in front, with Dubrick just behind and Kallin and Dane Kristian Hogenhaug trying to figure out how to up the tempo. By the 60 km point of the ride Kallin was back in front and the efforts of the speedy cyclists and managed to thin the lead group to six – once again Barnaby was at the tail end of the group, but gamely hanging on.

By the end of the bike Kallin and Hogenhaug had put their stamp on the second leg of the race, but were hardly clear – local Western Australia hero Nick Thompson was just a few seconds down, with Riddle and Barnaby just a few more seconds back, and Dubrick finding himself 31 seconds behind the leaders as he arrived in T2.

Barnaby nailed the transition and led the men out onto the run course, but it was Riddle who surged to the front during the early part of the run. The South African would open up a gap of 39 seconds on Barnaby by the halfway point of the run, but the Italian, who has completed three full-distance IRONMAN races, appeared confident that the race would come down to strength over the final half of half-marathon.

Barnaby was right – he steadily gained on Riddle and made the pass just before the 15 km point. He would never look back, flying to an impressive two-minute win (3:37:35) over Riddle (3:39:35), with Dubrick rounding out the podium in 3:39:51. Kallin would hang tough for fourth (3:41:31), earning some valuable Pro Series points, with Aussie favorite, Olympian Jake Birtwhistle having an impressive run to work his way to fifth (3:42:08).

1. Gregory Barnaby – 3:37:35 (24:31/ 1:57:10/ 1:12:29)
2. Jamie Riddle – 3:39:35 (24:25/ 1:57:08/ 1:14:22)
3. Marc Dubrick – 3:39:51 (24:23/ 1:57:35/ 1:14:17)
4. Robert Kallin – 3:41:31 (25:34/ 1:55:38/ 1:16:20)
5. Jake Birtwhistle – 3:42:08 (25:12/ 2:01:17/ 1:12:23)
6. Ben Hamilton – 3:42:17 (25:44/ 2:00:40/ 1:12:05)
7. Jarrod Osborne – 3:42:22 (27:04/ 2:01:00/ 1:10:22)
8. Kristian Høgenhaug – 3:42:54 (25:40/ 1:55:33/ 1:17:43)
9. Mitch Kibby – 3:44:23 (25:43/ 2:02:23/ 1:12:48)
10. Sam Osborne – 3:44:50 (25:41/ 2:02:25/ 1:12:53)

Sanchez Enjoys a “Short” Day

It wasn’t quite a wire-to-wire win, but Sanchez was pretty much at the front of the race from the gun.

“I couldn’t imagine a better race, the target was to qualify for next year’s IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Marbella, my home, so to take the win as well is something beyond words,” Sanchez said after the race. “It was a very good race for me, I was really focused all of the time, my mind was really into the race, I’ve been racing a lot of IRONMAN distance so this felt quite short, so I just kept that focus until the end.”

The Spaniard handled the choppy water conditions better than many of the other women in the pro field, finishing the swim in third – 22 seconds behind Dutch athlete Lotte Wilms (who has lived in Australia for 11 years) and New Zealand’s Teresa Adam. Aussie Richelle Hill was another eight seconds back, with Kiwi Hannah Berry hitting T1 at 1:16 behind the leaders. Some of the other favorites in the field had not fared as well through the first leg – Grace Thek (AUS) was 2:26 down, Maja Stage Nielsen (DEN) was 3:09 behind, Daniela Bleymehl was 3:30 behind as she grabbed her bike, and Els Visser (NED) was over five minutes behind as she entered T1.

Once out on the bike course, Sanchez quickly joined Wilms and Adam to create a three-woman group that was staying clear of the rest of the field. By the halfway point of the ride Berry had moved herself to fourth, but was a shade under two minutes behind. Over the second half of the pancake-flat bike course more of the players we expected to contend for the top-five moved up into the chase group. At the end of the bike Berry was still in fourth, but within a minute she was joined in transition by Visser, Bergsten and Bleymehl.

Sanchez quickly took control of the run, opening up a gap of 44 seconds on Wilms and almost two minutes on Adam within 4 km. Halfway through the run Wilms was hanging tough at about the same deficit, but it was Bergsten who was making the biggest move on the course, having moved herself to third, just over two minutes down.

There was no touching Sanchez, though, as she cruised to the win in 4:06:38. Bergsten managed to catch Wilms with a few km to go, moving to second, just over a minute behind (4:07:48), with Wilms (1:24:23) rounding out the podium. Hill (4:09:10) managed to hold off a fast-charging Thek (4:09:22) as the two Aussies took fourth and fifth, with Visser (4:10:11) and Berry (4:11:20) finishing sixth and seventh, just ahead of Bleymehl (4:12:35).

1. Marta Sanchez – 4:06:38 (26:39/ 2:12:14/ 1:23:00)
2. Anna Bergsten – 4:07:48 (31:59/ 2:10:24/ 1:20:30)
3. Lotte Wilms – 4:08:03 (26:17/ 2:12:33/ 1:24:23)
4. Richelle Hill – 4:09:10 (26:47/ 2:16:39/ 1:21:31)
5. Grace Thek – 4:09:22 (28:43/ 2:15:15/ 1:20:43)
6. Els Visser – 4:10:11 (31:49/ 2:10:46/ 1:22:48)
7. Hannah Berry – 4:11:20 (27:33/ 2:13:49/ 1:24:54)
8. Daniella Bleymehl – 4:12:35 (29:47/ 2:12:44/ 1:25:06)
9. Grace Alexander – 4:12:47 (27:54/ 2:13:50/ 1:25:52)
10. Teresa Adam – 4:13:04 (26:17/ 2:12:28/ 1:29:10)

Stay tuned for more of our coverage from Busselton.

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