Ironman 70.3 Bussleton Preview

A string of world class names are set to line up at SunSmart Ironman 70.3 Busselton on Saturday 11th May 2013.

“The men’s field is the strongest we have ever had at SunSmart Ironman 70.3 Busselton and one of the largest in the Australia for the 2012/2013 season” said Ashleigh Davis, Event Manager for Triathlon WA.

The field is ripe with previous winners of this event, Olympic Athletes, multiple Ironman champions and up and coming professional athletes. In total 40 professional athletes will toe to start line at Geogrpahe Bay on Saturday 11th May.

James Hodge, the 2012 SunSmart Ironman 70.3 Busselton Champion will make the trip to WA to defend his title.   This being his first full year racing the Ironman 70.3 circuit, Hodge will take on an abundance of experienced athletes all hunting for the win. Look for Hodge to take the race to the field and have them all chasing him down.

After deciding to base himself in the Asia Pacific for racing this year Tim Reed will be even more focused on a win this weekend. Reed is one of the fastest 70.3 runners in the game and on top of his strong bike leg he will be hard to beat.

Sam Appleton is also getting closer to the top as he builds his long course career. He will be there off the bike and will hold on for as long as he can on the run. It could still be a bit early to keep up with the likes of Reed, White and co on the run. Appleton is recovering from an Achilles injury and has only been running for two weeks after having to take three weeks off. Appleton has built more strength on the bike so is looking and being fresher for the run.

Matty White (SA), will be looking to crowned champion after finishing 2nd in both 2011 and 2012. When asked about the Pro field for the 2013 race Matty said, “It’s one of the strongest I have seen in Busselton. This demonstrates that SunSmart Ironman 70.3 Busselton is one of Australia’s show case races.”

Brad Kahlefeldt will be having another shot at long course. He has had some bad luck so far and every race is getting closer to us seeing what he can really do. We saw at Huskisson that he can run and we don’t think there is any doubt about that aspect. His swim is great with just the bike left to nail.

Fresh of his win at Ironman Western Australia (December 2012), Jimmy Johnson will make a return to Busselton as he takes on the SunSmart Ironman 70.3 Busselton. “I am really excited to be coming back to Busselton. I love this area and the races put on here. With my win at the Ironman in December, coming back brings so many great memories, so I’m definitely looking forward to getting on the course. It should be a great race but also a great Triathlon Festival. It’s events like this that help develop our sport, so I’m very happy to be part of that.”

We are hearing from the souther suburbs of Sydney that Alex Reithmeier is in some serious run form right now and Michael Fox is also running faster than he has ever run. Fox will be one of the first out of the water and will hang on to the leaders on the bike. It will be then up to him to nail the run to be in contention for a podium or top 5 finish.

David Mainwaring is looking at having a good solid result against a quality field this weekend. “I am aiming to have a top 5 finish which would involve having good swim and bike to allow me to use my strength in the run. Training with Alex price and AP10 crew has been really good and I’m in good form for the race. I have been working on my endurance in training with the transfer of racing from 2 hrs to 4 hrs and believe starting to see some real developments in training.”

Mainwaring finished 3rd in the Sydney half marathon last year in 68min on half debut and also raced the Bay to Bay half marathon and won it last year.

Local pro Johan Borg will be looking to have a very strong hitout in his own backyard. Borg finished 6th overall at Ironman WA in 2012 with a 3:03 marathon.

In the women’s field, WA local and crowd favourite, Kate Bevilaqua will look to take the title after finishing 2nd in 2012 to fast finishing Felicity Sheedy-Ryan. “I love this race and get excited about it every year” Said Kate. “Nothing beats racing at home and the incredible local support. Training has been going great and I will be ready to go next weekend”.   Kate will compete against Lisa Marangon, the 2007 and 2010 champion and 3rd place from last year’s event.

Also joining Bevilaqua and Marangon will be Liz Blatchford.

After racing for a number of years in ITU Olympic circuit, race favourite Blatchford made the move to Ironman and Ironman 70.3 racing last year. With only one year of this style of racing under her belt she already has claimed two 1st places and a number of top 5 finishes. Liz will be looking to take her first Ironman 70.3 win in Australia at Busselton.

A dark horse for the podium is Andrea Oracki who has stepped up to open in the last year. Oracki finished 8min behind Blatchford at Huskisson this year with a run only 1min slower than the very fast Blatchford.

There is no doubt that the hotly contested field will put on quite a show for the City of Busselton.

Below is the start list for SunSmart Ironman 70.3 Busselton 2013