Australians racing Ironman 70.3 Panama this weekend

Paul Ambrose, Richie Cunningham (3rd at Panama last year), Brett Carter and Paul Matthews are racing in a strong field at the Panama 70.3 this weekend with Bevan Docherty (last years winner), Romain Guillaume, Dirk Bockel, Allesandro Degasperri, Fraser Cartmell, Andy Potts, Trevor Wurtele and a host of other top long course triathletes.

Ambrose took a lot away from his 4th place at Auckland two weeks ago. Against a very tough field he showed that his form is good and he should be one of the leaders off the bike. Ambrose has been training heavily in southern Sydney with Macca and a number of other pros. He is one of the toughest trainers and he is nearly always leading or at the front of a race after T2.

Bevan Docherty will be looking for a repeat of last year after just missing out on the win at Auckland recently. Sydney’s Christian Kemp pulled away from Docherty late in the run to take the win. Docherty is now in ironman training and will just get stronger and stronger over the longer distances.

Richie Cunningham took away the overall Rev3 series title in 2012 after dominating the series. He is racing well and Ambrose sees him as a major competitor. Cunningham was 3rd here last year just over two minutes behind Docherty.

With a tenth at Kona last year and a 1st at Ironman Regensburg amongst his 2012 results Dirk Bockel is always a huge threat on and he will be one that the Aussies will be also keeping a very close eye on. The seasoned professional is always there. Bockel jumped on to our TV screens at the 2008 Olympics when along with a Belgium athlete he broke away on the bike and lead the field in to T2. He continued to lead the Olympic race until well in to the run when Jan Fredeno finally caught him.

Paul ‘Barney’ Matthews is a strong contender with a lot of Olympic distance racing under his belt. A second at Ironman Arizona recently with a 2:48 run was a great performance. On the day it was just two minutes on the bike that separated Matthews from the winner Nils Frommhold.

Brett Carter has stepped up to the pro ranks and is a ‘Team TBB rookie’ who loves to take everything Sutton can throw at him. He was an outstanding age grouper and is now chasing the dream.

Male

Paul Ambrose

Dirk Bockel

Brett Carter

Fraser Cartmell

Andres Castillo Latorre

Mauro Cavanha

Leonardo Chacon

Balazs Csoke

Richie Cunningham

Justin Daerr

Andres Darricau

Allesandro Degasperri

Bevan Docherty

Oscar Gallindez

Romain Guillaume

Mike Hermanson

Manuel Huerta

Paul Matthews

Andy Potts

Carlos Quinchara Forero

Frank Silvestrin

Felipe Van De Wyngard

Ciro Violin

Trevor Wurtele

Female

Mariana Andrade

Ana Borba

Terra Castro

Sara Gross

Nina Kraft

Leslie Lamacchia

Amy Marsh

Melanie McQuaid

Camilla Pederson

Margaret Shapiro

Jodie Swallow

Kelly Williamson

Heather Wurtele