The winners chased down big leads to claim the titles at IRONMAN Australia.
Byron Bay's Tim Reed had to dig deeper than before to claim his maiden IRONMAN victory at IRONMAN Australia in Port Macquarie.
Reed was greeted by family and friends after his come-from-behind win, running down solo leader Clayton Fettell, was made more challenging after one of Reed's closest friends passed away suddenly this week.
It proved a similar story in the women's race with Australian-based American, Beth Gerdes running down a double-digit lead by defending champion Michelle Bremer.
Loss of friend motivates men's winner
"I had something to fight for today. I lost a really great friend and he was coming up to watch me. I gave it everything for him," says an emotional Reed after his win.
The 31 year old is one of the world's premier triathletes over the IRONMAN 70.3 distance, as the current Asia-Pacific champion and with a bundle of victories around the globe. But so far the IRONMAN has proven a step too far.
Today he ran down an eight minutes 24 second deficit to fellow Australian Fettell on a wet afternoon in Port Macquarie, winning in 8:16:29 with his missing friend never far nor the support from his family far from his mind.
"It is not about the sacrifice that I make but my wife puts up with a pro athlete, then there’s my family, my friends and my training partners. There are just so many people behind this performance. I owe it all to them."
He finished nearly six minutes clear of Queensland’s David Dellow with Fettell, who fought so bravely mostly on his own at the front of the race, finishing third seven minutes behind the winner.
Fettell and Josh Amberger led out of the swim before Fettell took his chances on the first lap of the bike. He opened a six minute buffer after the first lap and took an 8:24 advantage onto the run.
Reed started to make inroad from the get-go and by mid-race the outcome was clear, although Fettell hung on, finishing third after David Dellow responded with a powerful second half of the run to be runner-up.
Gerdes reigns in the rain
The women's race followed similar lines with defending champion Bremer, the Australian-based New Zealander, seemingly impregnable as she opened a lead of 12:38 off the 180km bike.
Gerdes, a noted runner who won for the first time in Switzerland last year, gradually picked away at the lead. She took four minutes after 16kms but as Bremer began to slow, Gerdes pounced, finally overtaking the Kiwi at 36kms.
On the back of a 2:56 marathon, Gerdes claimed the win in 9:12:25. It backs up her victory in Switzerland last year although for a long time today she did not think it possible.
"I thought I would not catch Michelle but I never gave up," says Gerdes who lives much of the year in Australia with fiancé Luke Mckenzie.
"I've done all of the IRONMAN races in Australia but this is the first one I've won so that’s special. With the weather the run was more like a Tough Mudder than a marathon but that was fun."
New Zealand's Gina Crawford led out of the swim but Bremer pushed through to the lead early on the bike, extending her advantage to seven minutes after the first lap and over 12 minutes onto the run.
Gerdes whittled away until the final quarter of the race when Bremer faded and the American pounced.
Top Male Pros
1 REED, Tim AUS 8:16:34
2 DELLOW, David AUS 8:22:18
3 FETTELL, Clayton AUS 8:23:22
4 FOX, Michael AUS 8:26:12
5 ALLAN, Dougal NZL 8:29:15
6 COCHRANE, Simon NZL 8:36:19
7 GORDON, Adam AUS 8:38:56
8 HAST, Jarmo FIN 9:00:41
9 MURPHY, Sam AUS 9:09:05
10 LUBINSKI, Jim USA 9:23:10
Top Female Pros
1 GEDDES, Beth USA 9:10:28
2 BREMER, Michelle NZL 9:13:34
3 DUKE, Dimity-Lee AUS 9:42:16
4 BURKE, Melanie NZL 9:56:54
5 HAYES, Tamsyn NZL 10:07:41
6 MCALPINE, Wendy AUS 10:12:00
7 JAVENS, Amy USA 10:15:15
8 FITCH, Alison AUS 10:36:58
9 HALLETT, Kristy AUS 10:43:01
10 RICHARDS, Jessica AUS 10:44:19