Gina Crawford posts Ironman 70.3 win number two this season in Australia

Gina Crawford held off a spirited chase by Japan's Kiyomi Niwata to take another win on Australian soil this season. Just four weeks ago Gina won Ironman 70.3 Yeppoon, then two weeks later came second to Caroline Steffen at the MetaMan Bintan full distance triathlon (and banked $16,000). She h

Gina Crawford held off a spirited chase by Japan’s Kiyomi Niwata to take another win on Australian soil this season. Just four weeks ago Gina won Ironman 70.3 Yeppoon, then two weeks later came second to Caroline Steffen at the MetaMan Bintan full distance triathlon (and banked $16,000). She has continued her strong results with another win this weekend and is showing that you can make a good business out of racing if you plan properly.

Crawford had to dig deep during the run leg to secure the victory. It was the sacrifice of spending time away from her son that helped her pull away from Japan’s Kiyomi Niwata late in the run. Australian Lisa Marangon came in third.

Kiyomi caught me at 10km and I didn’t think I could win, but it’s a big sacrifice for me to come here and race and be away from my son for three days so I wanted to win it for him, I gutsed it out and got the win

For Crawford the win validated what she’d been doing in training, and gives her the confidence she’ll need when she hits the big Island of Hawaii.

Crawford spent the swim and bike as the hunter chasing Marangon who built a 3min plus lead on the back of a strong swim bike combination.

After taking the lead early in the run she became the hunted as triple Olympian Niwata produced a blistering fast run to move her way into contention.

Niwata and Crawford spent the majority of the second lap running side by side until Crawford made a move in the late stages building a 37sec lead, and was able to hold on for the win.

“I had an issue with my bike, the tyre was flat and I couldn’t pump it up and ran out of time so I just left it. On the ride I was working hard but not really getting anywhere, I was surprised I ran so well, and glad I gutsed it out and got the win,” she said.

Name	Country	Swim	Bike	Run	Finish	Div. Rank	Overall
CRAWFORD, Gina	New Zealand	0:27:24	2:27:37	1:25:03	4:23:18	1	44
NIWATA, Kiyomi	Japan	0:27:30	2:30:32	1:23:31	4:24:17	2	45
FLEMING, Jessica	Australia	0:29:36	2:22:45	1:32:04	4:27:42	1	55
WILLIS, Janine	Australia	0:28:17	2:25:09	1:32:24	4:29:29	2	63
MARANGON, Lisa	Australia	0:26:04	2:26:12	1:37:41	4:33:17	3	84
DAVIDSON, Dayna	Australia	0:31:00	2:27:04	1:32:01	4:34:22	1	91
ROBERTS, Madi	Australia	0:30:18	2:29:16	1:31:48	4:35:38	1	100
PUSZKA, Stef	Australia	0:31:56	2:27:47	1:32:22	4:35:55	1	102
MENDES, Anna	Australia	0:25:33	2:32:41	1:33:35	4:36:12	1	104
FRANKS, Elly	Australia	0:29:47	2:27:25	1:37:42	4:38:22	4	124
BURKE, Melanie	New Zealand	0:32:21	2:25:46	1:36:31	4:38:24	5	125
ZAMMIT, Tracey	Australia	0:28:30	2:27:41	1:38:56	4:38:36	2	129
THIELE, Catherine	Australia	0:29:43	2:28:37	1:37:18	4:39:21	3	137
FANCUTT, Liz	Australia	0:33:29	2:24:49	1:38:55	4:40:45	3	147
DELLOW, Natalie	Australia	0:27:58	2:31:57	1:37:29	4:40:50	2	148
HOPKIN, Andrea	Australia	0:32:08	2:25:24	1:39:26	4:41:12	4	151
MACKIE, Briarna	Australia	0:29:19	2:31:56	1:36:30	4:41:14	2	153
HILL, Meredith	Australia	0:31:24	2:27:24	1:38:32	4:42:02	3	165
WHITMORE, Tarryn	Australia	0:30:13	2:28:12	1:41:22	4:43:14	5	176
STEWART, Tineke	New Zealand	0:30:11	2:32:34	1:38:24	4:44:02	6	181

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Written by

Karl Hayes

Karl is a Gold Coast based father of 3, a keen home improver and an age group triathlete who races on the M5 Acadamies triathlon team. ‘A good life balance is incredibly important’.

trizone.com.au

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