South African James Cunnama secured victory at Ironman 70.3 South Africa. Second was Will Clarke (Uplace-BMC) ahead of his teammate Romain Guillaume.
Cunnama didn't get off to the best start. Rather, he was still at a disadvantage in swimming compared to Clarke, who determined the race at the front together with the Estonian Marko Albert (EST) and the German Faris Al-Sultan. Even on the bike, the South African could not approach. On the contrary: Just like Albert, he continued to lose ground to the leading duo, to which Frenchman Guillaume was able to catch up. A few kilometers before the change, he even managed to outperform Al-Sultan and Clarke and tackle the final half marathon as the sole leader. Al-Sultan followed behind him first. But like the German, Guillaume couldn't keep up with Clarke's running speed. What was even more impressive was Cunnama's mileage. Having started the last discipline almost three minutes behind, he set a pace that led him to first place at the end of the day.
The picture was different for women. Here the Briton Jodie Swallow determined the race from the beginning. At the finish she was more than three minutes ahead of the Czech Lucie Reed and the Swiss Simone Brändli.
//Result men
1 James Cunnama (South Africa) 4:05:01
2 Will Clarke (Great Britain) 4:05:24
3 Romain Guillaume (France) 4:06:24
4 Stuart Marais (South Africa) 4:06:38
5 Igor Amorelli (Brazil) 4:07:58
//Result women
1. Jodie Swallow (UK) 4:37:01
2. Lucie Reed (Czech Republic) 4:40:48
3. Simone Brändli (Switzerland) 4:42:40
4. Camilla Lindholm (Sweden) 4:48:15
5. Jeanne Collonge (France) 4:51:09