Canb 1/2 Official

official news release

"ACT youngster Aaron Farlow led out the Ironman Wetsuits 1.9km swim with Leon Griffen and Chris Dimitrief in hot pursuit as they made their way to the swim-to-bike transition.

Once the leaders got to the first large climb of the race, Griffen attacked on the bike and was able to gain two minutes on his rivals by the time he reached the 30km mark of the race. From here the Victorian was never headed on the 90.1km course. Coming into the bike-to-run transition with a six-minute lead, Griffen was then able to cruise to victory on the 21.1km run crossing the line in 4:09.02

In second place was Dimitrief who finished 10 minutes behind Griffen in a time of 4:19:42. The third professional athlete home was ACT’s Stuart Bardsley who finished in 4:26:28 ahead of Victorian Tim Berkel, with early swim leader Farlow finishing fifth.

On adjusted time age-group athletes filled three of the top five finishing times. Klayten Smith, Campbell Maffet and Darren Benson all produced excellent races that saw them finish third, fourth and fifth respectively.

In the women’s race Susan Peter claimed her second win in the Snap Australian Half Ironman Series by taking out the Canberra City Half Ironman Triathlon.

Her victory again came from her superior cycle leg which saw Peter enter the bike-to-run transition with a solid lead over Allison Kean. Once onto the run Peter maintained her position at the front of the race and claimed victory in a time of 4:50:55. Kean held onto second place in a time of 4:53:53, holding off Belinda Halloran who was the third professional athlete across the line in 4:54:55.

As in the men’s race, two age-group athletes also filled the third and fifth positions on adjusted time. Kirra Rankin placed third in 4:54:41 while Jennifer Gibson placed fifth in 5:00:03."