Philippines Ironman 70.3 Pro Preview

The Philippines 70.3 has an incredibly strong field and picking a winner is too difficult. In saying that, the short odds would have to be on Courtney Atkinson. Atkinson won the recent Cairns 70.3 ahead of Brad Khalefeldt. The reason we are suggesting that Atkinson could take this out is because of a couple of things. One is that he loves racing in the heat. Another is that he had another gear that he didn’t use at Cairns.

There will be a big lead swim pack with Brent McMahon, Michael Fox, Michael Murphy, Ben Allen, Pete Jacobs, Courtney Atkinson with Chris McCormack possibly leading the chase pack along with Cam Brown. The bike will continue on from the swim with the heat maybe playing a part in splitting the field up.

These guys will be trying to hurt each other on the bike with some of the slower runners attempting to get a lead in to T2. With the likes of Macca, Jacobs, McMahon, Atkinson and co the 21.1km run will be incredibly fast.

Pete Jacobs is in the Philippines to race. Don’t think he is there to simply fill an ambassadors role. After Hawaii 70.3 and Cairns 70.3 he will be looking for a place on top of the podium this weekend.

Chris McCormack has been in Asia training for the past few weeks along with fellow Shire boy Michael Murphy.

ITU convert Brent McMahon finished second overall at the recent Mont-Tremblant 70.3 45seconds behind Kiwi Terenzo Bozzone.   Yet another recent ITU athlete coming to the longer distance triathlons and showing how fast these guys are.

Michael Fox is moving closer and close to a podium. He had a good race in Japan earlier this year but faltered at the start of the run before coming good and running really well. Nutrition is a key to Fox correcting this.

Murphy has been training with Macca a lot this year. He will be learning from the master and we look forward to seeing him race this weekend.

A number of the athletes are racing the MetaMan Bintan iron distance race in three weeks and will be looking for a form guide.

In the women’s race Caroline Steffen will be the favourite. The big question will be how much her recent win at Challenge Roth has impacted her.

Bree Wee had a good swim / bike at Hawaii 70.3 but had issues with the run. She will be looking to have a solid hit out in a warm climate race to get back on to the podium.

We are looking forward to watching Matilda Raynolds racing again. After a solid race at Cairns she was pretty harsh on herself. Raynolds is a strong athlete who will keep growing with age. At 24 she has a lot of time to build over this distance.

Belinda Granger is having a great run this year and loves racing in Asia. After a solid race at Roth and time spent training in Spain she will be looking to get on to the podium yet again in the Philippines.