IRONMAN pushes athletes to the limit in Geelong

MELBOURNE’s Grace Thek and New Zealand’s Mike Phillips’ physical and mental toughness rewarded in the men’s and women’s professional titles at IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong.

More than 1,300 athletes took on the IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong course on Sunday (March 26), pushing their bodies to their limits in a 1.9km swim, 90km and 21.1km run.

For Melbourne’s Grace Thek, the win was one that had been a long time coming. After finishing on the podium for the past five years as a second and third place winner, Thek was thrilled to finally finish first.

“I’m feeling pretty great, it was a long time coming, five podiums, finally got that top step this year to make my sixth race here in Geelong and I’m absolutely thrilled to take the win against a classy field of women,” Thek said.

“I’m Melbourne born and raised and today was particularly special because I had my whole family here, my grandparents even came to watch for the first time… I had my aunties here, my coach and so much support out on course from fellow Melbourne triathletes and that triathlon community.

“It means a lot, I consider Geelong my hometown race…. I knew I had to work hard to get the win and I’m absolutely thrilled.”

Thek crossed the finish line in 4:10:10, almost two and a half minutes clear of 2019 winner Radka Kahlefeldt, with defending champion Lotte Wilms from the Netherlands in third.

In the men’s field, New Zealand powerhouse Mike Phillips kept up his winning ways, backing up his victory at the Nutri-Grain IRONMAN New Zealand just three weeks ago with a title in Geelong.

Phillips dominated his bike leg, and opened up what was an unattainable lead for his counterparts as he raced out to a five minute lead by the end of the 90km bike leg.

“I’m pretty buggered, that was a pretty wobbly last 10km there, probably didn’t help biking that hard but I’m stoked to win,” Phillips said.

“I got a bit of an average start in the swim but I was surrounded by the guys I knew I’d come out with so I wasn’t too worried and I thought my only chance was to take the opportunity on the bike.

“I thought a few might follow me but I had clear air straight away so I just got to work to get as much of a lead as I could.

“It was awesome out there, it’s a challenging bike course, nice swim and the run is quite challenging as well, it’s not your stock standard run course, it’s nice up and down the waterfront.”

For Melbourne’s Grace Thek, it’s full steam ahead as she endeavours to back up her win in Geelong with a strong performance at the IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside in Oceanside, California tomorrow.

More information can be found at, www.ironman.com/im703-geelong