Five Aussies in Top Ten at Rohto Ironman 70.3 Triathlon in Boulder

Stephen Hackett, Richie Cunningham, Paul Ambrose, Matty White and Josh Rix all put in great times to place in the top ten. On any other day any of these guys would have come in the top 3 but this race was highly competitive.

Stephen Hackett  went one better than his 4th place in July at the Boulder Peak Olympic distance triathlon. Hackett put in a strong swim with Richie Cunningham and Tyler Butterfield a minute back but a minute behind Andy Potts with a chase group including Matty White, Paul Ambrose and Josh Rix two minutes further back.

Hackett put in one of the fastest bike splits to catch Potts and put himself in to a solid position to start the run.

Matty was backing up from his 3rd place at the Steelhead 70.3 the previous week. Also racing at altitude was going to be tough. This made the bike fast though and Matty had his fastest 90km race time.

Hackett lost ground to Potts then had to contend with Butterfield closing in and eventually passing him.

Cunningham and Ambrose ended up one second apart after Ambrose caught up on the bike and they both ran almost identical half marathons.

Matty White managed to reverse last week’s result by coming home just ahead of Josh Rix.

This was Cunningham’s first serious race back. Trizone asked Richie  if he was happy where he is at “I am considering the race was at altitude. I have had two root canals this year and missed a lot of training  and I still have a fair bit of work to do on my run. It is still below where it should be. I am looking forward to a much improved second half of the season”.

Mens Results

1. Andy Potts 3:46:50 (USA)
2. Tyler Butterfield 3:49:18 (BER)
3. Stephen Hackett 3:51:27 (AUS)
4. Richie Cunningham 3:54:11 (AUS)
5. Paul Ambrose 3:54:12 (AUS)
6. Tim DeBoom 3:54:40 (USA)
7. Matt White 3:56:24 (AUS)
8. Joshua Rix 3:56:56 (AUS)
9. Tom Lowe 4:00:06 (GBR)