Mitch Robins on comeback trail with a 5th at Ironman 70.3 New Orleans

As we have covered before, this time last year Mitch Robins thought he would never run again. Even back in Australia after numerous mirco surgery procedures he was still coming to grips with the possibility that a university degree he was completing may become useful sooner than he thought. Fast for

Mitch Robins on comeback trail with a 5th at Ironman 70.3 New Orleans
Mitch Robins on his way to posting the fastest 20km run split of the day while chasing Pete Jacobs at Huskisson in 2012

As we have covered before, this time last year Mitch Robins thought he would never run again. Even back in Australia after numerous mirco surgery procedures he was still coming to grips with the possibility that a university degree he was completing may become useful sooner than he thought.

Fast forward 12 months and Mitch is running as quick as anyone in the game. His 1:12:20 half marathon run time was the fastest of the day in New Orleans and his swim was one of the quickest. All that remains is for Mitch to get the bike speed back to where it used to be and he will be on the podium in no time.

According to coach Grant Giles “Now it’s just a matter of time and some bike strength. I still believe that Mitch has a lot to offer us over shorter distance triathlon – he has scary run ability, but for now the comeback continues.”

Andreas Raelert and Trevor Wurtele put around six minute plus in to Mitch on the bike (and most of the field) but he will have made them sit up with his swim/run combo.

Next up for Robins is the US Pro Championships at the Ironman 70.3 St George on May 5th.

Tim Berkel has been plagued by the hip injury yet again that saw his run hampered. Realistically Berkel would have nudged the podium with his usual run. He ran 43 seconds faster than Robins over the same distance two weeks ago at the Texas 70.3 where he took second place. He hung in to finish in 8th place overall. Berkel rode strongly and posted one of the quicker bike times of the day.

Men’s results

NameCountrySwimBikeRunFinishDiv. RankOverall
Raelert, AndreasDEU0:23:342:06:461:13:473:46:5411
Wurtele, TrevorCAN0:25:412:05:531:12:553:46:5922
Ascenco, SantiagoBRA0:25:342:08:191:14:133:50:3833
Marsh, BrandonUSA0:23:342:10:251:15:073:51:4444
Robins, MitchellAUS0:24:322:12:451:12:203:52:2555
Jeuland, JoseFRA0:25:302:10:051:14:473:53:1566
Hoffman, BenUSA0:24:342:10:581:15:203:53:3277
Van Berkel, TimAUS0:25:242:08:291:17:213:53:4888
Wade, RobertUSA0:26:272:15:051:12:023:56:09910
Shearon, JonathanUSA0:25:272:09:581:19:533:58:151011
Boudreaux, ChristopherUSA0:25:272:11:281:20:203:59:531112
Bretscher, DanielUSA0:26:162:14:051:17:554:01:161213
Garcia, DerekUSA0:26:112:10:361:22:034:01:261314
Luft, MikolajPOL0:25:232:11:281:22:014:01:321415
Lejeune, Johnathan 0:35:552:14:121:09:374:02:17116
Cain, RyanCAN0:27:182:15:531:17:094:03:191517
Burns, JamesUSA0:27:142:17:361:16:024:03:561618
Woodford, JaredUSA0:25:212:18:121:17:454:04:131719
Anderson, WeslieUSA0:26:222:13:071:22:314:04:411820

Women’s results

NameCountrySwimBikeRunFinishDiv. RankOverall
Chura, HaleyUSA0:23:502:26:331:24:384:18:20135
Marsh, AmyUSA0:25:552:27:481:23:514:20:39237
Andrews, KristinUSA0:30:172:23:391:25:334:22:59341
Lawn, JoannaNZL0:27:042:28:171:24:314:23:12443
Schwabenbauer, KimberlyUSA0:30:512:28:441:20:574:23:42545
Leiggi, HeatherUSA0:30:102:26:241:28:304:28:12652
Bugdol, EwaPOL0:26:472:29:441:29:134:29:00753
Shutt, BethUSA0:30:002:24:511:31:164:29:16854
Gervais, AnnieCAN0:30:152:31:511:24:524:30:06956
Cornman, JocelynUSA0:30:132:29:041:28:114:31:191058
Gordon, JacquiUSA0:30:092:27:491:30:264:31:451160
Monticeli, ArianeBRA0:30:282:29:591:36:204:40:121284
Lamacchia, LeslieUSA0:32:592:33:411:30:144:40:261385
Phipps, HelenUSA0:33:062:31:241:34:384:42:161490
Radecker, Jennifer 0:27:422:30:071:42:174:42:28293
Smith, CarolineUSA0:30:332:39:131:35:074:48:461111
Mighdoll, MichelleUSA0:33:042:30:251:42:094:49:0415112
Szefi, SarahUSA0:35:492:28:551:41:024:49:122113
Newman, DeannaUSA0:33:052:39:551:32:064:49:202114