While she was undoubtedly a little disappointed after her second place finish at Challenge Canberra just one week ago, Fenella Langridge just finished her season in the best way possible. The British athlete, after a great battle, won Ironman Busselton.
Right away in the water, exactly what everyone expected happened; Langridge went off together with the Dutch Lotte Wilms and with a big lead the two got out of the water as well. They did so after 51 minutes and then it was more than three minutes to Chloe Lane and Lisa Norden, more than six minutes to Maki Takahashi and more than eleven minutes to Els Visser.
On the bike, Wilms and Langridge stayed together in the lead and that situation remained unchanged for a long time. However, it was Norden who had the most impressive bike leg and slowly but surely got closer to the two leaders and finally, just before the 100 kilometer mark, actually joined them.
It was in the second half of the bike leg that serious differences arose; Norden pushed on and soon pulled away from Langridge and Wilms. And even though Langridge could not keep up with Norden, the British rider in turn rode away from Wilms, who thus remained solo in third place. It was in this position that the women entered T2: Norden in the lead, Langridge second at 4:59 minutes and Wilms third at 8:29 minutes. Behind that, the battle was actually already over, as Lane was fourth at 21:36 minutes and Visser fifth at 22:34 minutes.
During the run, there was really only an exciting battle between Norden and Langridge. For a long time Norden remained in the lead, although she had to accept that Langridge was closing in every kilometer. After about 29 kilometers Norden’s lead was over and Langridge took over the lead. Wilms in the meantime was secuering her third place and Visser caught up with Lane, but never made a serious claim for a podium place anymore.
Langridge won the race in 8:29:43. Norden was second in 8:33:02 and Wilms third in 8:40:59. Visser finished fourth in 8:50:13.
