Sam Appleton and Felicity Sheedy-Ryan win Ironman 70.3 Busselton

Sam Appleton left it until the last 3kms to drive in the final nail and pull away from one of the best 70.3 triathletes in the world and former Ironman 70.3 world champion Kiwi Terenzo Bozzone. Appleton and Bozzone went toe to toe for almost the entire race, posting almost identical splits throughout the race.

In the women’s race it was a two person race and barring a tragedy it was always going to be either Liz Blatchford or Felicity Sheedy-Ryan who would take the win. In this race the damage was done by Sheedy-Ryan in the first 7kms of the run. Sheedy-Ryan put around two minutes in to Blatchford and that’s how it remained to the finish.

South Africa’s James Cunnama dug incredibly deep in an attempt to pull back the deficit that Appleton and Bozzone had created on the the bike. His race fast 1:11 was one of the fastest runs we have seen at Busselton after Kahlefeldt’s 1:10 in 2013.

On the subject of Brad Kahlefeldt his attempt to replicate his 2013 victory did not materialise. With a bike time 6min slower than Appleton and Bozzone he needed to drop bombs on the run. He finished in 4th place with a 1:16 run.

Matty White traveled from South Australia with his game face on and finished a credible 5th in a world class field.

Last year’s 2nd placed Alex Reithmeier was off the pace today and did not produce the 1:13 run that held off some more fancied opponents including today’s champ Sam Appleton.

In the women’s race 3rd placed Katey Gibb pushed hard on the run to post the fastest run time of the day. Gibb’s 1:20 got her close to Blatchford but not enough to get on to the second spot on the podium.

WA’s darling Kate Bevilaqua raced strongly for 4th place overall. The 2010 Ironman Western Australia champion put in a solid all round race today.