Currie, Kessler top Taupo 70.3
Braden Currie of New Zealand and Meredith Kessler of the U.S. won the elite titles at Ironman 70.3 Taupo.
Currie advanced from 3rd in the swim to take a slim lead on the bike, then outpaced Callum Millward with a race-best run to finish in 3:51:48. This gave him a 50 seconds margin of victory over Millward and 6 minutes over 3rd-place finisher McNeice to make it a 1-2-3 home country men’s sweep.
Kessler led all the way, powered by a women’s-best 25:57 swim, 3rd-best 2:23:31 bike split, and 2nd-best half marathon to finish in 4:17:31 with a 41 seconds margin of victory over runner-up Amelia Watkinson of New Zealand and 2:01 over 3rd-place finisher Laura Siddall of Great Britain.
Men
McNeice led the swim in 23:43, which gained him a 7 seconds margin on Matt Franklin, 8 seconds on O’Grady, 51 seconds on Currie and 55 seconds on Millward.
Currie set the second-fastest 2:08:29 bike split which brought him first into T2, followed closely by Millward (2:08:17), McNeice (2:09:00), Franklin (2:08:57) and O’Grady (2:09:13).
Halfway through the run, Currie forged a 1:06 lead on Millward and 2:35 on McNeice and O’Grady. By the finish, Currie’s day's fastest 1:14:42 run brought him a 50 seconds margin on Millward (1:15:17 run) and 6 minutes on McNeice (1:20:28 run).
Women
Kessler led the swim in 25:57 which gave her a 1:08 margin on Watkinson, 1:52 on Laura Wood, 1:55 on Samantha Warriner in her farewell to pro competition, 2:05 on Taryn Ryan and 2:25 on Rebecca Elliott.
Kessler led into T2 with a women's 3rd-best 2:23:31 bike split which gave her a 1:03 lead on Warriner (2:26:46 bike split) and 3:22 on Siddall (women’s best 2:21:51 split) and Watkinson (2:24:47 split).
Watkinson ran a women's-best 1:21:28 run split which made up 1:23 on Kessler, but fell 41 seconds short of Kessler (1:22:51 run) for the win. Siddall’s women’s 2nd-best 1:22:48 run brought her home 3rd.
Ironman 70.3 Taupo
Taupo, New Zealand
December 12, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Braden Currie (NZL) 3:51:48
2. Callum Millward (NZL) 3:52:38
3. Dylan McNeice (NZL) 3:57:48
4. Graham O’Grady (NZL) 4:03:15
5. Dougal Allan (NZL) 4:03:36
Women
1. Meredith Kessler (USA) 4:17:31
2. Amelia Watkinson (NZL) 4:18:12
3. Laura Siddall (GBR) 4:19:32
4. Sam Warriner (NZL) 4:25:49
5. Rebecca Elliott (NZL) 4:34:50 * F25-29
