South Africa’s Stuart Marais and Parys Edwards of Great Britain were crowned the champions on a warm day in Durban.
Edwards takes the win
It was no surprise to see Lucie Reed (CZE) lead out of the of the swim with more than two minutes on Andrea Steyn (RSA) with Parys Edwards a further minute back going into T1. Both Steyn and Edwards are notable cyclists with each cutting into Reed’s early lead.
By the 35km mark, Steyn and Edwards were both going well on the flat course and had passed Reed. From there on in it was a straight battle between Edwards and Steyn who exchanged the lead until the 70km mark before Edwards made a move to take a lead of 01:09 into T2. Reed entered T2 in third, nearly four minutes back.
As so often happens, the race would come down to the run, well poised for both Edwards and Steyn. Chasing her first ever win, Steyn kept within touching distance for most of the first 10 km but not until 12 km did Edwards begin to pull away. The Brit had to work hard to drop the tenacious South African but did enough to finish with a six minute lead in a time of 4:28:41.
Local man Marais steady all day
The pre-race favorite, Stuart Marais, lived up to his billing but didn’t lead out of the swim exiting the water in third place, a minute behind leader Rudolf Naude (RSA) and Freddy Lampret (RSA). Behind the leading three, Gerhard De Bruin (RSA), Travis Johnston (RSA) and Michael Davidson (RSA) entered T2 with less than ten seconds separating them.
The bike would prove to be a test for the athletes behind Marais who surged into a lead and continued to apply pressure on the chasers. Positions remained constant at 35 km with De Bruin moving into third while Marais extended his lead to two minutes.
By the 55 km mark heading back towards the city, De Bruin and Naude dropped back as Johnston and Davidson made a surge to enter the top three. Marais now had a seven-minute lead and was looking imperious. Marais entered T2 with a bike split of 2:10:18 with the chase group all entering T2 more than nine minutes behind with De Bruin and Johnston in second and third respectively, albeit with less than a minute between the five chasing athletes.
Marais kept it steady knowing he had the time cushion. At the pre-race press conference he predicted the race would come down to the run but that only held true for the chasing pack as Johnston struggled with a pulled muscle and quickly lost ground. Davidson and Naude took full advantage to move into second and third, but there would be no catching Marais. Marais won his first IRONMAN 70.3 on home soil in a time of 4:00:07. Davidson and Naude, both achieving their maiden IRONMAN 70.3 podiums, made up second and third respectively.
Top 3 Women
Parys Edwards GBR 4:28:41
Andrea Steyn RSA 4:32:40
Lucie Reed CZE 4:38:00
Top 5 Men
Stuart Marais RSA 4:00:07
Michael Davidson RSA 4:10:20
Rudolf Naude RSA 4:14:24
Freddy Lampret RSA 4:14:41
Gerhard De Bruin RSA 4:21:46