Ironman Florida threw up some interesting lead changes but once Stephan Vuckovik and Katja Schumacher has settled down in front on the second half of the bike they were definitely the athletes in control. Bryan Rhodes and Bella Comerford both looked to be off the pace at times yet both re-focussed and got themselves back into contention; Rhodes surged from the second group to establish himself in third place while Comerford held steady in fifth and regained some lost time in the closing miles up to T2. Tyler Stewart rode an astounding 4:47:59 to put herself into contention with Kraft and Nystrom.

By halfway into the run the men's race was led by Vuckovic with Stijn Demeulemeester and Markus Fachbach heading the chase group of nine athletes spread across just six minutes and change. For the women it was Nina Kraft who was now in the lead with Schumacher and Comerford chasing. With four miles to go in the mens race the lead was unchanged but Sergio Marques had run through into second place, Demeulemeester was in third with Rhodes and Bayliss rounding out the top five. The women's race was in meltdown too with Heleen Bij De Vaate running up into second place by mile 18, Tyler Stewart holding in third while Schumacher and Comerford slipped backwards.

At the end the men's win went to a deserving Stephan Vuckovik in 8:21:29 while Nina Kraft made the comeback victory that she's been hoping for since the lifting of her doping ban. Both results appear, subject to verification, to be new course records, Stephan edging out Spencer Smith's 2001 time by just one second! British hopes of a podium finish faded with Bella finishing fourth which Stephen Bayliss equalled. A good end to their year but possibly not quite as good as they had hoped for. Full results are filtering through on the IronmanLive site: www.ironmanlive.com