Triathlon becomes Duathlon in Busselton – courtesy of a shark…
Not even a shark was capable of stopping the fantastic late-season form of Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) on Sunday in Western Australia. Over the past three weekend’s Terenzo has won IRONMAN 70.3 Los Cabos in Mexico, then finished second (in a sprint finish) at the Island House Triathlon in The Bahamas, a close second again at the IRONMAN 70.3 Middle East Championships in Bahrain – and now added another win at IRONMAN Western Australia. All of that followed his best ever performance – sixth – at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona.
He has proven he is adaptable to all formats – and that versatility was required once again when an early morning shark sighting off of the Busselton Jetty meant that the event was swiftly changed to a Bike-Run Duathlon format, the Pro’s at 20 second intervals. Not surprisingly, coverage of the race from a timing perspective was a challenge, but when the time staggers were adjusted for and the scores on the doors collated, it was a kiwi one-two in the men’s race, with Bozzone overcoming a three minute net deficit over the 180km to Dougal Allan, to run on strongly for a clear victory margin of more than five minutes.
.@terenzo1 wins the 2017 #imwa title. His second win in a row pic.twitter.com/6t0vGISNTQ
— IronmanLIVE.com (@IRONMANLive) December 3, 2017
Two-time IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion, Melissa Hauschildt (AUS) is also in fine end-of-season form, winning the IRONMAN 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship last week in Western Sydney. She added another $10,000 to the $14,000 won last week, reaching the finish line seven minutes clear of Carrie Lester (AUS), with Camilla Lindholm Borg (SWE) completing the podium.
2017 SunSmart IRONMAN Western Australia champion @melhauschildt pic.twitter.com/4MV4p7MWvF
— IronmanLIVE.com (@IRONMANLive) December 3, 2017
GB Age-Group podium
Sophe Bubb – who we profiled ahead of the IRONMAN World Championship this year – won her F35-39 category, while Melanie Abrams took second in F60-64.
#Kona2018 with @thezhotels starts here!! Early qualification makes prep a lot easier. #ThirdTimeLucky #OneGoal #LongBuild #2017FinallyDone. pic.twitter.com/p5x0PlboHH
— Sophie Bubb (@SophieBubb) December 4, 2017
IRONMAN Western Australia, Busselton – Sunday 3rd December 2017
180km bike / 42.2km run (swim cancelled)
Pro Men
1st – Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) – 7:12:31
2nd – Dougal Allan (NZL) – 7:18:08
3rd – Tim Van Berkel (AUS) – 7:27:08
4th – Cameron Brown (NZL) – 7:32:23
5th – Nathan Shearer (AUS) – 7:35:33
6th – Konstantin Bachor (GER) – 7:39:41
7th – Scott Defilippis (USA) – 7:48:27
8th – Per Bittner (GER) – 7:50:37
9th – Leigh Stabryla (AUS) – 7:54:06
10th – Philipp Koutny (SUI) – 8:05:09
Pro Women
1st – Melissa Hauschildt (AUS) – 7:52:05
2nd – Carrie Lester (AUS) – 7:59:08
3rd – Camilla Lindholm Borg (SWE) – 8:02:00
4th – Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) – 8:11:02
5th – Meredith Hill (AUS) – 8:24:02
6th – Mareen Hufe (GER) – 8:29:51
7th – Tracy Morrison (AUS) – 8:46:08
8th – Monica Juhart (AUS) – 8:58:21
9th – Kierra Sansome (AUS) – 9:08:41
10th – Els Visser (NED) – 9:14:26