Ironman 70.3 in Cebu: Reed, Steffen back as champs

CEBU, Philippines — Tim Reed of Australia and Swiss Caroline Steffen brought their winning act from Subic to Cebu City yesterday, ruling their respective sides in varying fashions to share top honors in the premier division of the second Regent Aguila IRONMAN 70.3 powered by Philam Vitality at Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort & Spa.

Barely two months after re-claiming their respective crowns in IRONMAN 70.3 Subic, Reed and Steffen sustained their charge while flaunting their form again in tough conditions although the former needed to hang on in the closing run stage largely through crowd support to foil New Zealand’s Mike Philips by less than a minute in the men’s pro side of the 1.9K swim, 90K bike, 21K run event organized by Sunrise Events, Inc.

In contrast, Steffen dominated from start to finish and repeated over perennial rival Aussie Dimity Lee Duke by over 12 minutes in their side of the showdown in the event sponsored by Aguila Energy Drink and backed by Province of Cebu, City of Lapu Lapu and Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort & Spa, Lungsod ng Mandaue and Dept. of Tourism.

Both also staked their claim as king and queen of endurance racing here with Reed nailing his fourth victory after a sweep of the 2015 to 2017 editions and Steffen pocketing her sixth after reigning from 2012-16 in eight IRONMAN 70,3 staging in the Queen City of the South.

Steffen then took a one-year hiatus to give birth to her son and settled for second last year to Czech Radka Kahlefeldt, who missed defending her crown due to illness.

Reed clocked 4:01:22 with Philips barely falling short of pulling of a stirring reversal in 4:02:09. Tim Van Berkel, also from Down Under, placed third in 4:03:12 while Czech Jakub Langhammer, winner of the first Penong’s duathlon in Davao last month, ended up fourth in 4:03:18 in one of the closest IRONMAN 70.3 battles ever.

Bozzone wound up fifth in 4:06:00 followed by Aussie first timer and former age-group champion Justin Ghosh (4:15:38), Blake Kappler, also of Australia, (4:16:17), while Eric Watson of Bahrain and Aussie Luke McKenzie submitted identical times of 4:27:33 and Shen Yen Hsieh of Taiwan timed 4:28:51.

Steffen drew inspiration from his 18-month-old son Xander, coming out of the opening swim leg at the Shangri-La Mactan Beach, named as the best triathlon swim couse in Asia last year, first and staying ahead in the bike and run stages to win in 4:24:10. She had split times of 27:04 (swim)-2:17:51 (bike)-1:34:56 (run).

Duke, a veteran of many an IM 70.3 Phl duels, rallied in the closing run part to snare runner-up honors in 4:36:48 as erstwhile contender Aussie Courtney Gilfillan succumbed to the heat and fell to third in 4:39:18 with Beth McKenzie of the US ending up fourth in 4:54:55 and Laure Wood of New Zealand clocking 5:51:06 for fifth.

“I just love the place. If you feel happy with the place you race well and the six wins speak for itself,” said Steffen, who also bucked the heat in the bike and run stages to reign again in one of her favorite races.

“I love the heat, everything and I look forward to come back here. I keep saying that it’s one of my favorite races but it’s not true…because this is my favorite,” she added.

In a test of staying power in hot conditions, Reed poured it all out in the bike part to build a cushion but the ploy nearly backfired as he lost steam in the run event, virtually holding on to the lead through the crowd support.

“It was one of those things that I probably felt a little bit too good on the bike and became ambitious that when I got into the run, I paid the price,” said Reed, who submitted the same clocking of 24:15 in the opening swim leg with Philips. “It’s the toughest run I’ve ever done. If it’s another race, I’m not sure if I’m going to push through. I just got support (from the crowd) and managed to hold on.”

“The crowd support is one big thing and it took me a long time to get my fourth win so this is very special,” added the former world champion, who built a six-minute lead in the bike with a 2:06:27 clocking as against Philips's 2:12:32 but lost steam and barely held on in the run with 1:26:29 as against Philips' 1:21:12.

Sharing top honors were Nikko Huelgas and Alexandra Ganzon, who claimed the Asian Elite titles with clockings of 4:24:56 and 5:43:51, respectively. August Benedicto finished behind Huelgas in 4:32:44 while Taiwanese Hsieh Yu Hung placed third in 436:11 followed by Jorry Ycong (4:41:36), Raymond Torio (4:50:41) and Leonard Rondina (4:51:01.

Great Britain’s Thomas Elliott led the age-group winners, topping the 35-39 bracket in 4:22:43 while Japan’s Erika Tanno took the 30-34 diadem with a 4:49:15 clocking in the event backed by David’s Salon, Alaska, AlcoPlus, Borromeo Motoring Group, Cetaphil, DeVant, Timex, Sanicare, Regent, Motor Ace, Ever Bilena, Active Network, One Sports, Cignal, The Philippine Star, TriLife, AsiaTri and Finisher Pix.