Queensland’s Ellie Salthouse and Tasmania’s Jake Birtwhistle have impressed on their way to victory at the 2025 IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast, with both athletes breaking the tape comfortably clear of second place on the spectator-lined finish in Mooloolaba.
Salthouse completed the 1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21.1km run in 4:05:10 – more than five minutes clear of Sunshine Coast-based Dutch athlete Lotte Wilms. Canberra’s Penny Slater rounded out the podium in 4:12:37.
This was Salthouse’s 19th IRONMAN 70.3 victory but first in Mooloolaba, as she was making her IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast debut.
“I’m feeling happy, I was very pleased with that. I had a few internal goals that I wanted to accomplish, so I got them all, and I’m just really happy to take the overall win. It’s always nice to win on home soil, in front of a home crowd and my family and friends,” Salthouse said.
“This is as close as it gets to my hometown race. It’s always magical to win with the crowd cheering your name, so it’s really special.”
Salthouse was third out of the water, just behind Wilms and with Mikayla Messer just over a minute ahead of both. Salthouse made light work of the first few kilometres on the bike, taking the lead almost immediately and steadily continued to extend her gap to the chasing Wilms throughout the 90km.
Out onto the run with a 1:45 lead Salthouse never looked back, getting to work on the first lap to set herself up for a final lap where she could breathe easy and soak in the cheers from the crowd, knowing she had several minutes up her sleeve.
“I wanted to race from the front, that’s always my plan at these races and I wanted to get to the front as soon as possible, so when I came out of the swim just behind Lotte and passed her through T1, I knew I was on for that, so that was the main goal,” Salthouse said.
“It’s a really beautiful course. The second lap of the run I was able to enjoy a little bit more and take it all in and especially the crowd. I mean, the crowd was incredible, I had every person out there shouting my name, so it was really nice to have that. I’ve never raced this race before and it’s so nice to race at home, only an hour from home, so hopefully I’ll be back for more opportunities to race this one again.”
With victory, both Salthouse and Wilms have secured their slot to the 2026 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice, France. But first, Salthouse will turn her attention to this year’s IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Marbella, Spain, on November 8.
“I’ll start my prep now for Marbella, and we’ve got about eight weeks to go, I think. I was seventh last year, so I’d love a top five if not a podium finish. I think the way my season is progressing a podium is not out of reach. So yeah, keep the goals lofty – that will be my main goal for the year,” she said.
Launceston-based Birtwhistle claimed his second IRONMAN 70.3 title with victory on the Sunshine Coast, two years on from his maiden title at the IRONMAN 70.3 Tasmania race in Hobart.
“I’m feeling really good. That was kind of the plan to come here and get the win, so really glad to tick that box and have a good race out there today,” Birtwhistle said.
“I’m happy to get another win. It’s been a few years since the race in Hobart so it’s nice to stand on the top of the podium again.”
Birtwhistle took the tape in 3:38:29, more than two minutes ahead of Josh Ferris in second, with Yoann Colin making it an all-Australian podium in third.
Ferris was the first athlete out of the water, with a group of more than 10 athletes – including Birtwhistle and Colin – not far behind. The group stayed together for the majority of the bike leg until Ferris and Sam Osborne (NZ) made a surge in the final few kilometres to enter T2 with an 18-second lead on the chase pack.
Birtwhistle began the run with a 23-second deficit but took little time to hit the front. From there, he never looked like being caught and was able to slowly extend away from Ferris to the finish.
“It was a pretty tough one. I started felling it quite a bit early in the bike. I was a bit unsure about how the winter cycling had gone down at home in Tassie, and I thought I was maybe coming in a little underdone there,” Birtwhistle said.
I knew my running was going really well though, so I just had to stick in that front of the race and then play to my strengths and do what I could on the run and take it away from there.
“I was just keeping an eye on the pace with my watch and just making sure not to do anything silly too early on. A longer race like this just comes back to bite you towards the end no matter how controlled you feel early on, so it made for a pretty challenging back end, but I was able to push all the way through.
“The atmosphere out there was amazing, especially on the run – it made coming over and down that hill a lot more bearable because it was a pretty challenging course. I was a little jealous as I was running past the crowds and everyone sitting around in the cafes, but I’m looking forward to spending my afternoon doing that.”
Like Salthouse and Wilms, Birtwhistle and Ferris earned their slots to the 2026 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice. And, like Salthouse, Birtwhistle will now turn his attention to the 2025 edition in Marbella this November.
“I’ll now start working towards Marbella for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, so that’s the focus at the moment. I’ll just keep ticking along and keep hopefully building a little more fitness and some strength so I can hopefully go there and have a good result,” he said.
IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland. The Sunshine Coast Council supports IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast through its Major Events Sponsorship Program.
IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast – Professional Women’s Results
- Ellie Salthouse (AUS) – 4:05:10
- Lotte Wilms (NLD) – 4:10:17
- Penny Slater (AUS) – 4:12:37
- Amelia Watkinson (NZL) – 4:13:32
- Jasmine Brown (AUS) – 4:19:45
- Chloe Hartnett (AUS) – 4:22:04
- Katie Remond (AUS) – 4:22:15
- Paige Cranage – 4:25:56
- Rachael McCarthy (AUS) – 4:26:27
- Mikayla Messer (AUS) – 4:34:38
IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast – Professional Men’s Results
- Jake Birtwhistle (AUS) – 3:38:29
- Josh Ferris (AUS) – 3:40:37
- Yoann Colin (AUS) – 3:41:59
- Nicholas Free (AUS) – 3:42:16
- Jack Sosinski (AUS) – 3:42:42
- Sam Osborne (NZL) – 3:20:20
- Kieran Storch (AUS) – 3:43:55
- Sebastian Asher (AUS) – 3:43:58
- Stefan Zachäus (NLD) – 3:44:20
- Braden Currie (NZL) – 3:45:32
Full results for the 2025 IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast can be found here.
