Amberger, Wells tops at Geelong 70.3
Josh Amberger of Australia and Hannah Wells of New Zealand won the pro titles at Ironman 70.3 Geelong.
Men
Amberger engaged with fellow Aussie Sam Appleton in a tense duel through the swim and bike before Amberger edged away on the run to finish in 3:44:08 with a 31 seconds margin of victory atop a 1 through 12 Australian sweep of a strong field.
Appleton emerged from the swim in 20:45 with a 1 second lead on Amberger followed by 59 seconds on Tim Reed, 1:01 on Luke Bell, 1:12 on Steve McKenna, 1:18 on Tim Van Berkel, 1:21 on Daniel Stein 1:50 on Craig Alexander and 2:28 on Matt Burton.
After a race-best 2:04:40 bike split, Appleton held a 3 seconds lead on Amberger while Matt Burton trailed by 2:51 and Tim Van Berkel stood 4th, 5:20 behind the leader, Tim Reed was 5th, 5:28 arrears and Craig Alexander was 6th, 5:30 behind.
After a 5th-best 1:14:41 half marathon – 35 seconds better than Appleton – Amberger took the finish 31 seconds ahead of Appleton, 4:29 ahead of 3rd place Van Berkel (race-best 1:12:19 run), 4:56 ahead of 4th place Reed (1:12:34 run split), 5:05 ahead of 5th place Burton (1:15:23 run) and 5:36 ahead of 6th place Alexander (1:13:23 run).
Women
After a women’s-best 23:05 swim, Rebecca Clarke of New Zealand led Maighan Brown of Australia by 56 seconds, Hannah Wells of New Zealand by 1:01, Grace Thek of Australia 1:03, Chloe Lane of Australia by 1:14 and Emily Loughnan of Australia by 1:51.
Wells pulled away from the field with a women’s-fastest 2:20:51 bike split – 4:27 better than the next-best effort by Helen Morgan of Australia. Wells led at T2 by a 6:39 seconds margin on Thek (2:27:16 bike), 6:43 on Lane, 2:27:19 bike split),7:58 on Clarke (2:29:31 split), and 9:09 on Emily Loughnan of Australia.
After a 3rd-fastest 1:21:32 half marathon, Wells finished in 4:10:39 with a 5:48 margin of victory over Thek (women’s-best 1:20:37 run), 8:48 on 3rd place Loughnan (women’s second-fastest 1:21:10 run split), 12:15 over 4th place Chloe Lane and 14:09 over 5th-place overall and top age grouper Helen Morgan of Australia.
Ironman 70.3 Geelong
Geelong, Australia
February 23, 2020
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Josh Amberger (AUS) 3:44:08 S 20:46 T1 2:17 2:04:46 T2 1:36 R 1:14:41
2. Sam Appleton (AUS) 3:44:39 S 20:45 T1 2:21 B 2:04:40 T2 1:33 R 1:15:17
3. Tim Van Berkel (AUS) 3:48:37 S 22:03 T1 2:40 B 2:09:56 T2 1:38 R 1:12:19
4. Tim Reed (AUS) 3:49:04 S 21:44 T1 2:29 B 2:10:34 T2 1:41 R 1:12:34
5. Matt Burton (AUS) 2:49:13 S 23:28 T1 2:19 B 2:06:23 T2 1:40 R 1:15:23
6. Craig Alexander (AUS) 3:49:44 S 22:35 T1 2:12 B 2:10:02 T2 1:29 R 1:13:23
Women
1. Hannah Wells (NZL) 4:10:39 S 24:06 T1 2:31 B 2:20:51 T2 1:36 R 1:21:32
2. Grace Thek (AUS) 4:16:27 S 24:08 T1 2:43 B 2:27:16 T2 1:39 R 1:20:37
3. Emily Loughnan (AUS) 4:19:27 S 24:56 T1 2:42 B 2:28:59 T2 1:38 R 1:21:10
4. Chloe Lane (AUS) 4:22:54 S 24:19 T1 2:33 B 2:27:19 T2 2:08 R 1:26:33
5. Helen Morgan (AUS) 4:24:48 S 30:25 T1 3:19 B 2:25:18 T2 1:53 R 1:23:51 * F 30-34.
6. Rebecca Clarke (NZL) 4:27:22 S 23:05 T1 2:30 B 2:29:31 T2 1:46 R 1:30:28
