Berkel, Luxford in Melbourne
Tim Berkel ran down Clayton Fettell and held off John Polson to grab the win at the inaugural Challenge Melbourne race and Annabel Luxford's smoking fast 2:18:16 bike split gave her the women's title.
The men
Todd Skipworth and Clayton Fettell led the men out of the water in 24:18 and that gave them a nice cushion over the competition to start the 56 mile bike segment.
Fettell then pulled away with a splendid 2:01:27 bike split and that allowed him to start the run with a big advantage. Tim Berkel and John Polson also had solid bike rides with 2:05:56 efforts, but they surely had their work cut out.
Early on during the run Fettell looked very strong but he was unable to hold off the charge from behind. Berkel and Polson ran past him, and eventually so did Michael Fox and Todd Skipworth. Berkel's 1:16:21 run gave him the title in 3:52:37. Polson was second in 3:53:30 and Fox rounded out the podium in 3:53:38.
"Pretty happy with the win. And pumped for 2014," said Berkel to slowtwitch. "The race was great. It's the first time a half has been run in Melbourne. The course was fast. The swim was beautiful day on the bay, the bike was fast along beach road and the run was hard along some the trails along Brighton beach. It's still early season for me and I'm happy where the form is at. Racing Geelong 70.3 next week."
Polson was happy with his effort too and said to slowtwitch: "Challenge put together a tough course and a tough field. Tim Berkel and I pretty much shadowed each other for the entire day and in the end it turned out to be a good old fashioned battle on the run. I started to cramp with a few kilometers to go, but to be honest, Tim was just too strong. I am absolutely thrilled though with my result. This sport is tough, and it has taken me a long time to feel like I belong near the top. However, with this race and Auckland 70.3, I think it shows that coach Tim Reed and myself are onto a good thing at the moment."
The women
In very warm conditions Annabel Luxford led the Pro women out of the water in 27:21, but Caroline Steffen was just 4 seconds behind her.
Once on the bike Luxford managed to get away further from Steffen and with a 2:18:16 race best effort she had a 4 minute advantage over Steffen at the end of the bike. Rebecca Hoschke had a similar bike split to Steffen but had lost almost 6 minutes to the leaders during the swim.
Steffen ran faster than Luxford, but it was only marginally faster and nowhere close enough to challenge the Aussie for the win. When it was all said and done Luxford took the win in 4:16:01 and Steffen finished second in 4:20:05. Hoschke finished 3rd another 5 minutes later.
"Melbourne was a fantastic event. Super Sprint organized it very well, especially considering the hot weather conditions and the number of athletes that were on a multi-lap course," said Luxford to slowtwitch. "Regarding my performance, I was really pleased with it. I'm very underdone at the moment, after taking December off and having a slow build back into the year – well at least on the training front. There are many aspects of my performance that need to be improved, but a solid foundation to start with."
Challenge Melbourne
Melbourne, Australia / February 2, 2014
1.9km swim / 90km bike / 21.1km run
Top men
1. Tim Berkel (AUS) 3:52:37
2. John Polson (AUS) 3:53:30
3. Michael Fox (AUS) 3:53:58
4. Todd Skipworth (AUS) 3:54:32
5. Clayton Fettell (AUS) 3:55:01
Top women
1. Annabel Luford (AUS) 4:16:01
2. Caroline Steffen (SUI) 4:20:05
3. Rebecca Hoschke (AUS) 4:25:29
4. Madeleine Oldfield (AUS) 4:31:30
5. Wendy McAlpine (AUS) 4:32:01
