Australia’s Sarah Crowley started her day off with a great swim, coming out of the water just a second behind 2012 Olympian Elizabeth Bravo from Ecuador, then never looked back as she rode to a huge lead and stayed in front to the line at Ironman 70.3 Ecuador today.
The Australian has had, for her, a slow start to the season with her best finish a sixth at Ironman Tulsa in May, but today’s result certainly bodes well for the two-time Kona bronze medalist. Crowley’s strength on the bike quickly became evident as she opened up a gap of over four minutes on Bravo by the halfway point, and was over 12 minutes up on Canada’s Jenny Fletcher and American Kimberly Goodell. By the end of the bike she was 7:18 ahead of Bravo and just over 17 minutes up on Fletcher and Goodell.
Bravo would make up a bit of that time on the run, but Crowley was never really threatened as she took the day in 4:27:57. Bravo would cross the line 4:18 later (4:32:15), with Goodell rounding out the podium in 4:50:51.
You can find results from today’s race here.