Australians Josh Amberger and Sarah Crowley scorched their way to wire-to-wire wins on a day when the feared strong winds never came to pass at the IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship in Cairns. Their wins were sealed on the bike with Amberger clocking an astonishing 4:15:13 effort and Crowley 4:49:59—both new marks for the 180km ride.
Amberger, the former ITU performer, has established an impressive record over the IRONMAN 70.3 distance with six wins and 10 podiums, but Cairns was just his third start over the full distance.
On the heels of a strong swim over the new one-lap course, a 10:35 lead off the bike, and a 2:53:26 run, Amberger clocked a stunning 8:02:17 to break Tim van Berkel’s course record by 13 minutes. Joe Gambles stormed home with a 2:44:30 marathon to finish just under 2 minutes back.
Crowley had a similar story, out of the swim with Canadian Karen Thibodeau in 57:00 with a lead of more than four minutes. She stretched solo to 6:10 at Port Douglas on lap one, and 9:40 on lap two before taking a 13:17 buffer on to the run. The challenge behind came to nought, with American Sarah Piampiano getting within 10 minutes as Crowley scooted home in 8:58:13 for a storming course record.
Both winners are coached in Brisbane by former professional Cameron Watt, and both can now plot their ways to the Big Island in October for the IRONMAN World Championship.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Amberger, Joshua AUS 0:47:15…4:17:29…2:53:26…8:02:17
2 Gambles, Joe AUS 0:50:02…4:25:19…2:44:30…8:04:03
3 Currie, Braden NZL 0:49:46…4:26:12…2:47:56…8:07:46
4 Van Berkel, Tim AUS 0:49:50…4:25:46…2:49:54…8:09:22
5 Dellow, David AUS 0:49:49…4:25:51…2:51:32…8:11:33
Top 5 Pro Women
1 Crowley, Sarah AUS 0:57:06…4:50:00…3:06:01…8:58:14
2 Piampiano, Sarah USA 1:05:38…4:52:58…3:02:49…9:08:20
3 Moeller, Kristin DEU 1:05:22…5:00:50…3:03:29…9:14:08
4 Duke, Dimity-Lee AUS 1:01:27…4:58:47…3:14:32…9:20:04
5 Grohmann, Katharina DEU 1:13:02…4:57:19…3:06:36…9:21:16