Tim Van Berkel And Sarah Crowley Claim Ironman Australia Titles

Tim Van Berkel crossed the line in 8:15:14 to take victory 11 minutes clear of Josh Amberger, with New Zealand’s Jack Moody rounding out the podium, while Sarah Crowley won in 9:06:04, pushed all the way by New Zealand’s Rebecca Clarke whose gutsy performance left her just over a minute behind the leader, with Courtney Gilfillan third.

Van Berkel exited the water in second position, four minutes behind Amberger who continued to lead throughout the 180km ride, with Van Berkel hot on his tail.

It was during the run where Van Berkel began to exert himself, taking the lead after 16km and stretching further away from the chasing pack on his way to his first IRONMAN Australia title.

“I’m lost for words honestly, I’m just so stoked to get that win today. It’s a title I’ve always wanted ever since I started doing IRONMAN and to do it here, in front of family and friends it was just awesome,” said Van Berkel.

“I grew up watching this sport with the legends doing this sport and I started my IRONMAN
career here at IRONMAN Australia and I always wanted to be up there and to win that title and to finally do it, I’ve had two sevenths, a fourth, a third, a second and now I’ve got that win on my sixth attempt so I’m just absolutely pumped and looking forward to coming back next year to defend the title,” he said.

It was a special victory for Van Berkel who spent nine years living in Port Macquarie. His family and friends were out in force, cheering on his every move.

“After the first lap I was six minutes down and I started to stress a little bit and I didn’t feel good the first part of the bike, my hip was hurting and I just didn’t feel good into the headwind and then I just got some nutrition in and felt good and then I rode away from the boys I was with and I managed to pull back 30, 40 seconds on Josh and once I got onto the run I knew I was in good nick and I was in for a good marathon,” he said. “I caught Josh pretty quick, I think I got him by about 13, 14kms and then after that I could just enjoy it and soak it up. I gave a lot of locals, friends and family high fives out there, so it was just awesome, such a great day, I love racing here in Australia and I love racing in my hometown Port Macquarie.”

With his win on Sunday, Van Berkel secured himself a position at the 2022 Supersapiens IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, Hawaii in October. In finishing second, Amberger also qualified for the pinnacle event.

“It feels good, especially as I’m turning 38 this year and I started to lose a few sponsors and a few people saying you’re getting too old you might need to retire, and a few mates have actually nicknamed me the journeyman so just good to stick it to them, there’s still some fight left in this old dog,” said Van Berkel.

Brisbane’s Sarah Crowley, who has twice finished third at the IRONMAN World Championships, cemented her status as one of the world’s top triathletes after an epic battle with New Zealand’s Rebecca Clarke in claiming her maiden IRONMAN Australia title.

Clarke was the first female out of the water, holding onto her lead for the first 40km of the bike before Crowley took the lead.

The top two swapped positions throughout the next 140km of riding, eventually coming back into transition just seconds apart.

Clarke began the run in the lead, but it didn’t take Crowley long to hit the front and from there she refused to relinquish her lead despite being pushed hard throughout the entire 42.2km with Clarke never more than two minutes behin her.

“That was one of the hardest races I’ve actually ever had to do to win, so full credit to Bec for being there all day and putting the pressure on,” said Crowley. “I think we probably raced one of the fastest times ever on this course, so we were really going for it all day and I’m just ecstatic with the victory.

“It means a lot because I’ve had a rough couple of years, I haven’t been able to get my form back to where it should be, and I think this is the start of something really good,” she said. “So stoked to do it on home soil in Australia and I’m looking forward to Cairns next month now to keep the ball rolling.”

Crowley says though she was pushed hard the whole way, she loved the IRONMAN Australia course.

“I had a lot of fun, it’s got so much character that there’s always something to keep you entertained the whole time, so I was actually really having a good time,” she said. “I found the run pretty hard, especially the section out the back because we had quite a strong headwind coming back down each lap and it was a big disparity between your outbound running pace and inbound running pace, it was hard to manage but Bec was there the whole time keeping the hammer down. It was a pretty cool course, I really like it. I’ve raced the IRONMAN 70.3 but it’s completely different when you have to double it.

“It’s such a historic event here in Australia, it was our first IRONMAN here. My first time doing the full and I’m super proud of my effort today and sits along nicely with my Oceania Championships in Cairns,” said Crowley.

Like Van Berkel and Amberger, Crowley and Clarke’s one, two finish secured them a spot at a second IRONMAN World Championship event in 2022.

IRONMAN AUSTRALIA – FINAL RESULTS

PRO MEN

1.       Tim van Berkel, AUS, 8:15:14

2.       Josh Amberger, AUS, 8:26:14

3.       Jack Moody, NZL, 8:35:40

4.       Ben Phillips, NZL, 8:36:36

5.       Tim Reed, AUS, 8:40:20

6.       Fraser Walsh, AUS, 8:46:44

7.       Joel Wooldridge, AUS, 8:55:05

8.       Harry Young, AUS, 9:00:34

PRO WOMEN

1.       Sarah Crowley, AUS, 9:06:04

2.       Rebecca Clarke, NZL, 9:07:11

3.       Courtney Gilfillan, AUS, 09:30:48