New Zealand triathletes secured a double victory at Ironman 70.3 Sunshine Coast in Mooloolaba, as Hannah Berry earned a dominant win and Trent Thorpe achieved his maiden professional Ironman 70.3 title.
Dominant Performance by Berry
Berry, who bypassed the IM 70.3 World Championship in Nice to focus on the upcoming Ironman World Championship on Kona, Hawaii, put on a commanding display. She produced the fastest bike and run splits, finishing just one second off the fastest swim time, to cross the line in 4:05:33 – nearly six minutes faster than her winning time at the same event in 2019. Australia’s Emily Watts, competing in just her second IM 70.3, finished second almost eight minutes behind, while Charlotte McShane rounded out the podium in third.
“I’m feeling good. I felt pretty good today across the board and that’s what I was aiming for. I had a good swim, rode at the front of the bike and just tried to hold my gap and ideally create a bit more of a gap, and then on the run just do my thing. My legs actually felt pretty good so it’s positive,” Berry said.
“I definitely had to dig a little deep when I got to the turnaround on the bike and saw that Emily was chasing me down, so I picked it up and biked away scared a little bit. I managed to hold her off in the end but had to work for it.”
She added: “I love coming here, it feels a bit like a second home. We come to Noosa pretty much every year to do a training block. This is my fifth time racing here so I know it really well. There are a lot of Kiwis over here and there’s a lot of people I know over here from training here, so it feels almost like a local race. The crowd support is awesome and it’s a really fast course.”
Berry now turns her focus to her final preparations for Kona: “I’m currently preparing for the IM World Champs on Kona, so that’s the big one for the year. I’m in a pretty heavy training load at the moment so it’ll be a couple of days of recovery and then straight back to training for that one in a months’ time.”
Thorpe Secures Wire-to-Wire First Win
In the men’s race, Thorpe led from start to finish to claim his first professional victory. He exited the swim more than a minute clear of the field and expanded his advantage on the 90 km bike segment, entering T2 with a lead of over three minutes. Despite a late push on the run from Australia’s Caleb Noble, Thorpe held on to take the win in 3:42:33. Noble took second, just over two minutes back, while Australia’s Mitch Kibby finished third in 3:45:49.
“I’m over the moon, this is my first professional win, so I’m stoked. I couldn’t have asked for a better day,” Thorpe said. “It was one of the best crowds I’ve ever had. The amount of people out on the course was just unreal and seeing so many friends and family, my coach, it was just an awesome feeling.”
Explaining his strategy, Thorpe noted: “I just sent it from the swim, I think I got about a minute gap and then I just kept it going on the bike. I wanted to try and ride as fast as I could and get as big a gap as I could onto the run. Coming off with a lead of nearly four minutes, that was the best thing I could’ve asked for and then it was just about surviving that run, especially that last five kilometer.”
Professional Women
- Hannah Berry (NZL) – 4:05:33
- Emily Watts (AUS) – 4:13:20
- Charlotte Mcshane (AUS) – 4:15:55
- Rebecca Clarke (NZL) – 4:18:56
- Laura Gillard (AUS) – 4:21:27
- Jasmine Brown (AUS) – 4:22:57
- Penny Slater (AUS) – 4:25:50
- Demi Birch (AUS) – 4:29:45
- Emily Donker (AUS) – 4:33:08
- Danielle Donaldson (NZL) – 4:41:55
Professional Men
- Trent Thorpe (NZL) – 3:42:33
- Caleb Noble (AUS) – 3:44:37
- Mitch Kibby (AUS) – 3:45:49
- Nicholas Free (AUS) – 3:48:09
- Ben Hamilton (NZL) – 3:48:49
- John Fothergill (AUS) – 3:49:04
- Mitchell Westhuizen (RSA) – 3:50:07
- Monty Dixon (AUS) – 3:50:56
- Kyle Tremayne (AUS) – 3:51:37
- Scott Harpham (NZL) – 3:53:23
