The annual Half Ironman Series heads to the nation’s capital…
A quality field, led by defending champion, Michelle Wu and featuring some of Australia’s best up and coming athletes and sprinkling of internationals too is heading to Canberra over the weekend of December 13/14 for the eighth annual Canberra City Half Ironman triathlon.
The penultimate event in the annual national Half Ironman Series (the last event before the grand finale that is the Ironman 70.3 Geelong), Canberra has already drawn a class field, with 650 athletes expected to toe the start line at 6:30am, December 14th.
The first leg of the longest and most prestigious triathlon held annually in the ACT is the 1.9km Blue Seventy swim, a one lap course in Lake Burley Griffin, before the 93km Erox bike leg, held over three laps of an exciting and ultra quick course, first used for the Canberra World LD champs in 2006, and feeding into the Zoot run, two-laps set on a half marathon 21kms course in the Canberra CBD parklands in Commonwealth Park,.
Leading the men’s field for the event is highly regarded Danish Long Distance champion, Jimmy Johnson, but Johnson has one hurdle to cross enroute to Canberra; he has to first finish and recover from the awesome Ironman Western Australia the weekend before.
Johnson is not the only athlete attempting this ultimate double challenge; Sydney’s Pete Jacobs, running hot in Half Ironman and Ironman 70.3 around the world is a dual starter, as is Brian Fuller, a Queensland based International who is getting faster and faster at each outing.
Starting a little fresher in Canberra will be standout field of young athletes in Ireland’s Bryan Keane, the former pro cyclist and runner stepping up to his first Half Ironman in this event, but finishing every race he’s attempted in Australia in first or second!
Young Guns, Adam Holborrow, Tim Reed, Paul Wiedersehn and Nicholas Kastalein are all capable of an upset. Stepping into the open ranks for the first time is the winner of the China Ironman 70.3, Steve Waite, while some wily veterans in the field will be hard to beat in five time Shepparton Half Ironman winner, David Meade, and Canberra’s own Stuart Bardsely.
Others capable of surprising the front runners on the day include Roger Smith, Mike Gee, Ben Howard and Richard Monroe.
The women’s field is excellent, with Wu, the find of 2008, back after a whirlwind short course tour of Asia, and faced with challenges from Canberra born Belinda Halloran, the two time Ironman Malaysia winner stepping back into the sport after a break with motherhood, and Canberra based Jennifer Dixon, who has been a winning age grouper at National level for the last two years and won silver in the 2006 World Long Distance championships too.
Abigail Bayley, winner of the Australian Long Distance champs and coming off an international season of top five finishes in Ironman and Ironman 70.3 will be joined in the field by Charlotte McShane, 4th in at the Capricorn Resort Half Ironman in Yeppoon and the XTERRA under 20 World Champion, and Elly Franks, a Victorian athlete who is climbing the ranks with her speed and placing consistency in the top three in Half Ironman racing nationally right now.
The open field will race for a $5000 purse, plus primes for fastest swim, bike and run.
Already many of the top age groupers have lodged their entries, looking to score both maximum individual and club points for the annual series and more are joining them daily as the countdown to close of entry on December 8th is underway
The event has already attracted entries from every state and territory in Australia and from Denmark, Ireland and Singapore.
The Canberra City Half Ironman is open to both individual and team entries at www.canberrahalf.com until December 8th, and is supported by Australian Capital Tourism, Enervit, Aqua Shop/Blue Seventy, Rydges, Tri Travel, Aeromax Coaching, Erox, Conti Oceania, TriShave and TriathlonPhotos.com.
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