Search
shop

Bradley Weiss, Annah Watkinson take IRONMAN 70.3 South Africa

Home athletes dominated at Sunday's IRONMAN 70.3 South Africa. Close racing saw Great Britain's Emma Pallant take second place
Chief Correspondent
Last updated -
Get the ultimate guide to destination racing

Advertisement

A ‘home’ double in Buffalo City as South Africa dominates

Second again for Emma Pallant, DNF for Elliot Smales

Having won the race for three of the past four years, Matt Trautman’s run of success at IRONMAN 70.3 South Africa was ended by fellow countryman and 2017 XTERRA World Champion, Bradley Weiss, today in a close and exciting race.

Second to Jeanni Seymour 12 months ago, this year it was another South African, Annah Watkinson, who prevented Emma Pallant from reaching the top step of the podium this year.

PRO MEN

With the usual 1.9km swim shortened to around 1.15km due to rough sea conditions, the leaders were out in little more than 15 minutes with Great Britain’s Elliot Smales (who i recently interviewed), leading the way. Having been training in South Africa in recent weeks, he was looking to kick off 2019 early and build upon his three IRONMAN 70.3 victories last year. It wouldn’t prove to be be his day.

With the likes of Bradley Weiss (RSA), Matt Trautman (RSA), James Cunnama (RSA) Evert Scheltinga (NED) and Cyrill Viennot (FRA) all within 60 seconds of Smales’ pace in the water, the swim was not going to be a huge factor in the race outcome today.

The primarily out-and-back course in South Africa may feature a (closed) main road / motorway for much of the route, but it is not an easy or fast course, rising from the sea to the 45km turnaround.

Kevin Maurel (FRA) initially held the lead, but mechanical issues would impact his race, leaving 2017 XTERRA World Champion, Bradley Weiss, to show his skills on the road and reach T2 alone with the fastest bike split (2:14:25). Ryan Schmitz (RSA) was next (+1:42), before Johannes Moldan (GER) and Matt Trautman followed in close order, about 2:30 down on the leader.

For Smales, T2 would see the end of his race and not quite the race performance he was hoping for to end his South African training camp. He told me post-race:

“Pulled out after the bike. Was struggling to put the power down and my glutes became really tight. Struggled to stay on the skis for the last 15 miles and really struggled to pedal for the last 5.”

Out on the run course and Trautman was the man on the move, quickly moving from fourth to second inside the first 6km and barely half a minute down on Weiss. By 11km they were together and surely the writing was on the wall and a fourth title ready to be collected by Trautman?

Wrong! Weiss then pulled away over the next 5km and would hold strong to the finish line to take the win with a 1:19:29 run by 1:02 over Trautman (1:18:10). Third-place James Cunnama (winner in 2014) showed his typical strong run performance (1:18:18) to complete an all rainbow-nation podium.

PRO WOMEN

There may have only been four Pro women starting today, but that wasn’t going to stop the top two from having a close battle for the best part of four and a half hours.

Annah Watkinson (RSA) gained 24 seconds over Emma Pallant in the swim, but with a tough (and mostly uphill) run into T2, Emma had all but eliminated that advantage by the bike mount line.

There was little to separate the pair on the bike either, both reaching the 45km turn within eight seconds of each other, before Watkinson was finally able to open a small gap of one minute before T2. Once again Emma was swift through transition to further reduce that margin and within the first kilometre there was little more than 30 seconds to separate them on the run.

Following a similar trend to the men’s race, Pallant closed the gap and caught Watkinson and briefly took the lead, before Annah was able to turn the tables and then pull away again. 53 seconds at 11.2km became two minutes at 16.3km, and that would remain the way until the finish. Watkinson ended with a 1:24:49 run split to the 1:26:01 of Pallant.

IRONMAN 70.3 South Africa, Buffalo City, East London – Sunday 27th January 2019
1.15km** / 90km / 21.1km (** Swim shortened)

PRO MEN

1st – Bradley Weiss (RSA) – 3:53:51
2nd – Matt Trautman (RSA) – 3:54:53
3rd – James Cunnama (RSA) – 3:56:26
4th – Cyril Viennot (FRA) – 3:58:56
5th – Ryan Schmitz (RSA) – 3:59:38

DNF – Elliot Smales (GBR)

Triathlon England National Duathlon Championship
Photo Credit: Chris Hitchcock

PRO WOMEN

1st – Annah Watkinson (RSA) – 4:21:15
2nd – Emma Pallant (GBR) – 4:23:12
3rd – Jade Roberts (RSA) – 4:44:06
4th – Sabrina Stadelmann (SUI) – 4:52:14

John Levison
Written by
John Levison
TRI247's Chief Correspondent, John has been involved in triathlon for well over 30 years, 15 of those writing on these pages, whilst he can also be found commentating for events across the UK.
Discover more
TRI247 podcast p/b Challenge Family episode 2
Go behind the scenes at Challenge Roth with the latest episode of the TRI247 podcast
Cadomotus Chronos triathlon cycling shoes
The triathlon cycling shoe that promises a 10-watt saving: Cadomotus Chronos Aero triathlon cycling shoes review
Challenge Family Roth
Five things you need to know about the Challenge Roth bike course
Challenge St. Pölten 2024 - image credit Jose Luis Hourcade / Challenge Family
Expert swim coach on the three most common swim mistakes age group triathletes make (and how to fix them!)
TRI-FIT VANGUARD tri suit review
The entry-level tri suit with a serious amount of performance for the price point – TRI-FIT VANGUARD review
latest News
ironman hamburg 2025 podium laura philipp kat matthews solveig lovseth beer
Challenge Roth 2025: Laura Philipp backed to make triathlon history by crashing through magical time barrier
Challenge Roth press conference 2025
Challenge Roth 2025: Date, start times, how to watch live and who’s racing
Georgia Taylor Brown wins supertri Toulouse 2024
British Olympic legend Georgia Taylor-Brown to make triathlon return
Gwen Jorgensen reflective World Triathlon Cup Vina del Mer 2023
‘Unbreakable’ Gwen Jorgensen ‘bruised’ after bike crash but vows to bounce back
IRONMAN CEO Scott DeRue Women For Tri 2024
IRONMAN announce new age-group qualification system for Kona and 70.3 Worlds
triathlon on your terms
Never miss out with our triathlon alerts & digest. Get a dose of adventure & inspiration with Boundless.
The 247 Group

The home of endurance sports

Share to...