Gemmell, Ellis in Singapore

New Zealand’s Kris Gemmell, a man with four ITU World Cup wins and 16 World Cup podiums and a $50,000 2nd place at the 2010 Hy-Vee ITU World Cup, won his debut Ironman 70.3 against a strong international field at Singapore Sunday. Gemmell’s better swim (race-best 27:44) and James Cunnama’s better bike (2nd-best 2:02:49) left the two men starting the run together. By the end, Gemmell’s ITU-honed, race-best 1:13:40 half marathon bested Cunnama’s second-best 1:14:24 run by just enough to give him his 49-seconds margin of victory in winning time of 3:50:56.

Pete Jacobs of Australia, the man who posted a race-best, low-2:41 marathon at Ironman Hawaii to finish 9th, could only manage a 3rd-best 1:16:59 run and had to settle for 3rd place overall. Patrick Vernay of New Caledonia was 4th in 3:55:50 and Faris Al-Sultan, coming off a hard day in Abu Dhabi last weekend, took 5th in 3:56:13.

In a similarly small but equally excellent pro women’s field, Mary Beth Ellis of the United States, the 2008 Ironman 70.3 World Championship silver medalist, ran down fellow American Amy Marsh for a 1 minute 26-seconds margin of victory in a winning time of 4:21:06. Michelle Wu of Australia struggled mightily to overcome her molasses-slow 34:08 swim, but her 4th-best 2:18:04 bike and 2nd-best 1:28:46 run brought her home in 3rd place, 4:25 behind Ellis and 2:59 behind Marsh.

Ironman 70.3 World Champion Jodie Swallow of Great Britain, who won this event in 2009 and placed second in Singapore a year ago, seemed to be in contention through the bike, but was not listed among the first 8 finishers.

The 5th running of the Ironman 70.3 Singapore drew a sold-out field of 1,753 entries.

Ironman 70.3 Singapore
Singapore / March 20, 2011
S 1.2 m / B 56 m / R 13.1 m

Results

Pro men

1. Kris Gemmell (NZL) 3:50:56
2. James Cunnama (RSA) 3:51:45
3. Pete Jacobs (AUS) 3:54:25
4. Patrick Vernay (NCL) 3:55:50
5. Faris Al-Sultan (GER) 3:56:13
6. Hideo Fukui (JPN) 3:56:32
7. Christian Kemp (AUS) 3:57:00
8. Scott Nyedli (GBR) 3:58:25
9. David Dellow (AUS) 4:00:08
10. Balazs Csoke (HUN) 4:02:38

Pro Women

1. Mary Beth Ellis (USA) 4:21:06
2. Amy Marsh (USA) 4:22:32
3. Michelle Wu (AUS) 4:25:31
4. Maki Nishiuchi (JPN) 4:31:11
5. Rachael Paxton (AUS) 4:36:52
6. Kirsten Molloy (AUS) 4:37:48
7. Rachael Smith (4:41:17) 4:41:17
8. Emma Ruth Smith (GBR) 4:43:56