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Britain’s ‘Iron couple’ had a storming race this past Sunday at Wimbleball Lake, United Kingdom; with Bella coming 1st in the women’s race and Stephen 2nd in the men’s race.
At the race billed as the ‘toughest 70.3 in the world’ with a 1.2mile swim/56mile bike/13.1mile run set on a very tough and hilly course., the couple emulated their 2007 IMUK results.
Bella beat defending champion Julie Dibens in a close and exciting race to claim the title. Dibens lead both the swim and the bike but she could never make the gap between herself and Bella big enough to ensure victory. Bella was close on her heels throughout the race but finally took the lead in the third lap of the run to sprint home in first place with almost a 5 minute lead for the women’s title. Comerford is now the only person to hold both UK Ironman titles at the same time.
Bella said, “It was a hard race and Julie proved to be the tough competitor I knew she would be. She had a good swim and it was on the bike I was able to close the gap and I started to really gain on the run with the third lap seeing me take the lead, I was elated to cross the finish line to take the title.”
Stephen Bayliss was part of an equally exciting race, fighting for the finish line with last year’s winner Fraser Cartnell who was not willing to give up his title. Fraser pulled out of the water first but Bayliss was not far behind. Bayliss soon caught up on the bike with Fraser only 30 seconds behind in transition to the run. The leaders ran side by side for some of the run with the lead changing constantly but in the last push at the finish line it was Cartnell who stormed home in fist place with Bayliss shortly behind.
After the tough, hilly course in Wimbleball the couple are now back at their Swiss training base in preparation for Ironman Austria.
For more information on the race visit www.half.ironmanuk.com.
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