New Zealand triathletes Hannah Berry and Trent Thorpe have claimed victory at Ironman 70.3 Sunshine Coast.
Berry opted to compete in the race, instead of the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in France, on Sunday as she builds towards the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii next month.
The decision paid off as she cruised to victory at Mooloolaba: almost eight minutes clear of Australia’s Emily Watts in second, with Charlotte Mcshane a further two and a half minutes behind.
Her winning time of 4hr5min33sec was almost six minutes faster than her victory in 2019.
“I love coming here: it feels a bit like a second home,” she said.
“We come to Noosa pretty much every year to do a training block (and) this is my fifth time racing here so I know it really well.
“There are a lot of Kiwis over here and there’s a lot of people I know over here from training here, so it feels almost like a local race. The crowd support is awesome and it’s a really fast course.”
Berry will now focus on the Ironman World Championship.
“That’s the big one for the year. I’m in a pretty heavy training load at the moment so it’ll be a couple of days of recovery and then straight back to training for that one in a months’ time,” she said.
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Thorpe was equally impressive, earning his first Ironman 70.3 victory after leading the race from start to finish.
“I’m over the moon. This is my first professional win, so I’m stoked. I couldn’t have asked for a better day,” he said.
“It was one of the best crowds I’ve ever had. The amount of people out on the course was just unreal and seeing so many friends and family, my coach: it was just an awesome feeling.”
He hit the tape in 3.42:33, just over two minutes ahead of Caleb Noble, while Australia’s Mitch Kibby rounded out the podium.
The professionals raced alongside more than 2000 age-group athletes across the 1.9km swim starting and finishing on Mooloolaba Beach, a 90km ride taking in the Sunshine Motorway and a 21.1km run finishing on the Mooloolaba Esplanade.
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.
