Brown, Wu win Japan 70.3
Cameron Brown’s sizzling-for-a-tough-bike 2:23:37 carved out a most of his 6:36 winning margin over Sweden’s Fredrik Croneborg and Michelle Wu beat fellow Aussie Rachael Paxton by 2 minutes to win Ironman 70.3 Tokoname Japan Sunday.
The men
Brown combined a 4th-best 25:28 swim, a race-best 2:23:37 bike and a 3rd-best 1:20:35 half marathon run to finish in 4:12:00 to win Ironman 70.3 Japan.
“It was great to be on top of the podium again and win the inaugural 70.3 Japan,” Brown wrote in an internet statement. “I was able to run at a comfortable pace and not kill myself with Ironman Hawaii just three weeks away.”
Sweden’s Fredrik Croneborg gave up 2:12 to Brown on the swim, 4:19 to Brown on the bike, and outran Brown by 26 seconds to finish in 4:18:36 – 1 minute and 50 seconds in front of third place Kuniaki Nishiuchi of Japan.
“I had a good start and was on the feet of Olympian Hideo Fukui, but halfway through the swim I was over heating in my wetsuit with the 25 degree centigrade water temps,” wrote Brown. “I started to feel like crap and just couldn't keep a rhythm going and came out around 1:45 down.”
The bike course was tough. “It only had small hills but they were relentless,” said Brown. “Also the many tight turns we had to negotiate really slowed us down. I finally took the lead at the 60km mark on the bike and off the bike I had a lead of around 3:30 on Olympian Hideo Fukui.”
The women
Michelle Wu swam a 4th-best 28:28, biked a 4th-best 2:46:06, and ran a 3rd-best 1:34:19 to hit the line in 4:521:27 and earn a 2 minutes winning margin over Rachael Paxton of Australia. Wu earned a 2:47 margin on Paxton in the swim, gave back 47 seconds on the bike and 4 seconds on the run to hit the line precisely 2 minutes in front of Paxton and 2:58 ahead of third-place Emi Shiono of Japan.
Ironman 70.3 Centrair Tokoname Japan
Tokoname, Japan
September 18, 2010
S 1.2 mi./ B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Overall Men
1. Cameron Brown (NZL) 4:12:00
2. Fredrik Croneborg (SWE) 4:18:36
3. Hiroyuki Nishiuchi (JPN) 4:20:26
4. Kuniaki Takahama (JPN) 4:21:00
5. Masayuki Matsumaru (JPN) 4:21:59
6. Daiki Masuda (JPN) 4:24:47
7. Balazs Csoke (HUN) 4:29:21
8. Shinya Suganuma (JPN)
9. Kaito Tohara (JPN) 4:31:08
10. Erich Felbabel (HK) 4:32:38
Overall women
1. Michelle Wu (AUS) 4:51:27
2. Rachael Paxton (AUS) 4:53:27
3. Emi Shiono ( ) 4:54:25
4. Saori Omatsu (JPN) 4:54:55
5. Maki Nishiuchi (JPN) 5:01:06
6 Hiromi Matsumaru (JPN) 5:05:14
7. Hiromi Toda (JPN) 5:21:15
8. Kaori Tokai (JPN) 5:23:20
9. Kumiko Takemoto (JPN) 5:23:31
10. Tomoko HJiramatsu (JPN) 5:33:54
