Alexander And Steffen Take Titles At Ironman 70.3 Geelong

Craig Alexander has successfully defended his title at Ironman 70.3 Geelong in a close race. In the women’s race, Caroline Steffen destroyed the field on the bike to claim a convincing first Ironman 70.3 title.

For a gallery from the race click here

On a hot day in Geelong, 1,500 athletes took to the choppy waters off Eastern Beach. But there weren’t just swimmers in the water this morning: a smack of jellyfish added an unwelcome diversion to the 1.9km swim.

Not that that deterred the pros. Clayton Fettell quickly established a lead in the swim, exiting the water nearly a minute ahead of the rest of the men’s field (21:54). Michael Murphy was second out the water (22:54), leading a group that contained Alexander (23:01) and Paul Ambrose (22:56).

But it was all about Fettell on the bike. The time-trialler went out hard, extending his lead by a minute at the end of the first 30km lap. Two chase groups soon merged into one as the field tried to reel in the charging Fettell, but the Australian was, he later said, “riding scared”.

It worked. By the end of the three-lap course, Fettell had established a lead of nearly five minutes over the chase-pack, registering a blistering 2:12:37 on a sometimes technical, undulating course.

With a big chase group entering T2 together, the question was whether they could catch Fettell.

Alexander had every intention of doing just that. Accompanied by training partner and former Geelong winner, Leon Griffin, Alexander quickly settled into his stride and started eating into Fettell’s lead.

By the end of the first lap of the three-lap run, Crowie had cut the lead to two minutes. Then, at the 11km mark, the reigning Ironman World Champion took the lead. Griffin soon passed the fading Fettell, but was unable to close the gap on Alexander. With a 1:11:57 run-split, Alexander took the win in 3:53:15. Griffin was second (3:54:35) and Tim Berkel ran his way to third (3:56:10). Fettell, meanwhile, held on for fifth (3:56:39).

“I’m really happy with that,” said Alexander after the win. “That was a solid hit-out, especially considering all the travel.  I’ve done a strong block of training these last five or six weeks.”

Leon Griffin was philosophical about his second-placed finish: “Today was always going to come down to a running race.  Craig showed why he’s the world champion, he ran away with ease.”

In the women’s race, despite leading out the swim (24:43), Sam Warriner struggled to contend with Caroline Steffen, who was in blistering form.

With Steffen close behind Warriner out of the water (24:54), it looked like the race would quickly develop into a ding-dong battle between the two pre-race favourites.

But Steffen had other ideas. On a rolling terrain that suits her riding style, the Swiss star went out hard on the bike, establishing a two-minute lead over Warriner by the end of lap one.

And that lead just grew as the race progressed. With a race-best 2:20:38, Steffen had built up a five minute cushion going into T2. Lisa Marangon (2:25:42) and Sam Warriner (2:25:56) were the next into transition, going out hard on the run in a bid to catch the leader.

Steffen, however, was too strong. Despite the rising temperatures, she maintained her five-minute lead throughout the run, eventually finishing in  4:14:32. Carrie Lester ran her way into second (4:19:32), with Lisa Marangon third (4:19:49) and last-year’s winner Sam Warriner eventually finishing fourth (4:23:01).

Steffen was understandably ecstatic after her win: “It feels awesome to win!  It’s my first win in a 70.3 race.  I had an awesome day, I felt so strong.  I did my own race, and never looked back.”

Ironman 70.3 Geelong
1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21.1km run

Top 5 Men
1. Craig Alexander (Aus) 3:53:15
2. Leon Griffin (Aus) 3:54:35
3. Tim Berkel (Aus) 3:56:10
4. Peter Schokman (Aus) 3:56:25
5. Clayton Fettell (Aus) 3:56:39

Top 5 Women
1. Caroline Steffen (Swi) 4:14:32
2. Carrie Lester (Aus) 4:19:32
3. Lisa Marangon (Aus) 4:19:49
4. Samantha Warriner (NZL) 4:23:01
5. Nicole Ward (Aus) 4:30:29

FILED UNDER: News / Race Results TAGS: Caroline-Steffen / Carrie-Lester / Clayton-Fettell / Craig-Alexander / Ironman-70.3-Geelong / Leon-Griffin / Lisa-Marangon / Paul-Ambrose / Sam-Warriner / Tim-Berkel

Paul Moore

Paul Moore is the Online Editor for Triathlete Europe. When not glued to a computer he can be found writing books - most recently Ultimate Triathlon: A complete training guide for long-distance triathletes which you can buy on Amazon

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