That Britain’s Lucy Charles-Barclay was the first woman out of the water at today’s Ironman 70.3 European Championship Elsinore came as no surprise, but that she would ride away from countrywoman Holly Lawrence – who was chasing – was impressive. During the run she finished what she started, which saw Charles-Barclay take an impressive win and claiming the European title. Lawrence took home silver (+5:21), with Denmark’s Camilla Pedersen completing the podium (+15:54).
It took Charles-Barclay 22:43 to finish the swim in first place. Lawrence was still relatively close, reaching T1 “only” 55 seconds later. Once in the saddle, Lawrence started her chase. While she was successful in closing the gap to Charles-Barclay in the first 18 km, she quickly lost time after that. After 18 km, Lawrence had closed the gap to 33 seconds, but as if Charles-Barclay could feel Lawrence breathing down her neck, she started to pick up speed. After the bike Charles-Barclay enjoyed a 2:57-minute advantage.
About halfway through the 21.2 km run, Charles-Barclay had extended her lead on Lawrence to 3:30, making it clear that it would be highly unlikely that anyone was going to get between her and the win today. Clocking a 1:18:05 half-marathon, Charles-Barclay celebrated her win well ahead of Lawrence, who finished second. Pedersen took the last podium spot, but needed 15:54 minutes longer than Charles to complete this race.
