Tim Berkel wins Australian Ironman 70.3 Pro Championship

Tim Berkel ran a 1:15:42 half marathon today to hold off Tim Reed to take the Australian Pro Championship at Ironman 70.3 Mandurah. It was good to see the guys and girls get a decent payday for their efforts. Both fields received USD $10,000, $5,500, $3,500, $2,500, $2,000 and $1,500 (1st to 6th).

As expected Clayton Fettell led out of the water and held about a one-minute lead until about halfway through the 90km bike leg. With the caliber of runners in this field Fettell was going to need a lot more lead than it looked like he was going to have headed in to T2.

There were around 12 guys in a chase pack only one minute behind Fettell out of T1 and with this firepower in a pack this size he was always going to have a target on his back.

Berkel and James Bowstead put in the strongest rides of the day with both heading in to T2 and with Tim Reed and Ruedi Wild in pursuit there was going to be one great running race. In the end Reed’s race fast run of 1:15:00 was not enough to eat in to the lead Berkel had forged on the bike leg.

In the preview we mentioned Berkel’s performance at Forster a couple of weeks ago and said ‘don’t read much in to it’ and that showed today. All the signs have been there recently for a big performance. After having a less than ideal race in Copenhagen while defending his Challenge title this year Berkel had a big desire to win the rest of his goal races for the year.

Tim Reed yet again showed that each year he is getting stronger and stronger. While he underplays his swimming ability this year has seen him put in some very good swims in races. At New Zealand he also showed how strong he is on the bike. We saw today that he is no slouch in the water and his bike time was one of the better times today. Reed has had a few solid wins in 70.3 in the last twelve months and it is only time before he nails one of the really big ones.

Switzerland’s Ruedi Wild had a great race today. The 2012 Olympic ITU athlete is one of many Olympic distances guys and girls stepping up to 70.3 distance. This next season we will see an avalanche of them. Wild has had a few top ten finishes in some of the bigger ITU races over the last couple of years.

Matty White (the non performance enhancing one) also had an impressive day. A 4th in this field was a great result and one that will give him a lot of confidence heading in to the Australian summer. White had a great race recently at Yeppoon 70.3 taking away a 3rd place there.

James Bowstead was looking the goods heading out of T2. The Kiwi road hard and put himself in to a commanding position with Tim Berkel out on to the run. He was always going to have a battle on his hands though with Reed Wild and White behind him.