Their combined years is a tick under 80 but age definitely shall not weary them.
With seven world championship titles between the pair, Craig Alexander and Felicity Sheedy-Ryan proved far too strong for rivals to win IRONMAN 70.3 Busselton in Western Australia.
The ill-winds forced a 30-minute delay in the swim and the choppy conditions spread the fields for both men and women, in the event that doubled as the Triathlon Australia national long distance titles.
By midway through the bike normal transmission had returned in the men with pre-race favourites Mike Phillips (NZL) and Alexander (AUS) closing in on the lead. While Phillips bridged up to a charging Matt Burton at T2, Alexander bided his time some 42 seconds back.
After a lightning fast 3:10 pace for the opening 3.5kms from Phillips, Alexander was able to wear him down and claim the lead midway through the run. His 1:15 effort off a tough swim and windy bike was more than enough to win his second straight IRONMAN 70.3 title in 3:49:53. An impressive Phillips, the IRONMAN New Zealand champion, was second 1:20 back and Burton third.
Despite prowess as a two-time duathlon world champion, Sheedy-Ryan was in reach of the lead out of the choppy waters and had joined New Zealand’s Rebecca Clarke in the lead midway through the bike.
A powerful late push from Australian Renee Kiley gave her a 1:31 buffer on to the run but Sheedy-Ryan smashed to the lead after 3.5kms. She was in a class of her own from that point, with the 1:24 effort far too good, winning in 4:20:16 with 6:30 to Clarke and over 10 minutes to Emily Loughnan.
It was her third victory in this event for the super-talented 34-year-old Western Australian.
Men's Podium
1 Alexander, Craig AUS 3:49:52
2 Phillips, Mike NZL 3:51:12
3 Burton, Matt AUS 3:53:07
Women's Podium
1 Sheedy-Ryan, Felicity AUS 4:20:16
2 Clarke, Rebecca NZL 4:26:46
3 Loughnan, Emily AUS 4:30:48