Michael Raelert has finished his trip to Australia with a great victory at the Ironman 70.3 Ballarat. In 3:48:33 the 34-year old won the race in the southeast of Australia in a sovereign way. Australian Jamie Huggett was runner-up in 3:57:33 only one second ahead of his fellow countryman Luke Bell. "It was a really tough race," said Michael Raelert later, "it was cold, wet and windy. In the beginning of the race the wind was not too strong, but at the end it was pretty stormy."
Already in water, Michael Raelert could open up a little gap on the 1.9 km long course. He exited the water after 23:57 minutes, leading Australian co-favorite Luke Bell by 11 seconds. Matt Bailey from Australia followed in third place only two seconds behind Luke Bell. On the bike, it was on Michael Raelert and Luke Bell to ride away from the rest of the field and to put a lot of time on their pursuers. “Due to the conditions, it was challenging to keep the rhythm high. It was tough to pace yourself at a good level,” said Michael Raelert.
The 34-year old Rostockian dominated the race from the front on the flat course, only Luke Bell could follow his pace on the bike. Michael Raelert came off the bike with a split of 2:08:33 which was the fastest of the day. When he started onto the run course, he had a lead of 1:45 on Luke Bell, Jamie Huggett (Australia) was already seven minutes behind in third place.
"I felt good on the first kilometers of the run,” said Michael Raelert. After only six kilometers he was leading Luke Bell by more than five minutes thanks to a pace which sometimes was just over 3:20 minutes per kilometer. "On the last five kilometers it was really hard," Michael Raelert explained later, "I had the feeling that I'm losing time again." Finally, he had the best half marathon split (1:13:53). "It's just incredible that I was able to take my fourth consecutive title in the fifth race of my season," said the 34-year-old.
After the race in Ballarat, Michael Raelert immediately left Australia. He went back to Europe, because on December 6 he wants to fight for the title at inaugural Challenge Bahrain. After a short rest in Europe he will start his preparation for the race in Bahrain.