Ironman 70.3 Geelong: A Great Women’s Field Prepare to Battle

The women’s professional race at IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong will see 10 athletes line up to take on the 1.9km swim, 90km ride and 21.1km run with a host of IRONMAN 70.3 wins and podium finishes between them.

The battle at the front of the race is set to be as tight as ever with the 2021 podium of Ellie Salthouse, Amelia Watkinson and Grace Thek all returning to race again in Geelong this Sunday.

Salthouse had a year to remember in 2020, claiming victory in seven races at home and abroad, including back-to-back wins to finish the year at IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta and IRONMAN 70.3 Memphis in the United States.

Brisbane-based Salthouse, who stood on the top step of the podium at IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong last year, is looking forward to kicking off her 2022 campaign on Sunday.

“I’m feeling good, it’s always difficult knowing where you’re at this time of the year, with the off season having been and gone, first race of the year is always challenging to know where you’re at,” said Salthouse. “It always makes the nerves pretty high, I’m looking forward to getting out there and racing, it’s been a couple of months since I’ve been on a start line.

“It feels like a bit of a hometown race for me, all of my Dad’s side of the family live down there, so whenever I go down I always have a bunch of crowd support and all my family get to watch me race which is really special,” she said. “I’m looking forward to getting out there in front of my family, seeing them all and catching up. It is a beautiful course and I really like racing in Geelong, hopefully the weather participates and it’s as warm as possible is what I’m requesting.

“It will be a great way to see where I’m at, I love racing the top girls in Australia, having the best there means that it’s going to be a great, fast race,” said Salthouse.

New Zealand’s Amelia Watkinson will be on her first triathlon start line since IRONMAN Cairns in June last year, with an injury keeping her on the sideline for the last few months. While she wasn’t able to race as normal Watkinson put plenty of time into her riding, including taking part in the recent Road Cycling National Championships.

“It’s been a while, I had an injury which took me out for a little bit of last season, I’m quite excited to be starting the year and have the opportunity to have these early season races in Australia to test the body a little bit,” said Watkinson. “As endurance athletes we’re used to small setbacks like that, it’s quite easy to switch into the mindset of using it as an opportunity to work on our swimming, I’ve just done a really good bike block and did the Road Cycling National Champs as well so it’s been a good opportunity to do other things, still related to improving my overall performance but it gives you an opportunity to focus and hone in on different aspects.

“I really liked the cycling, it was a completely different dynamic, definitely got the heart rate up, some explosive speed in there, I had a good season with high intensity work early in the year, hoping that will work this year for me,” she said. “The cyclists all thought I was nuts going for a bike ride and a run in between different race days but it was good, it was fun.”

IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong has a special place in the heart of Melbourne’s Grace Thek, with it being the site of her first ever IRONMAN 70.3 race, and she’s also finished on the podium in Geelong every year since 2018.

After COVID cancellations limited Thek to just one race in 2020 she took the opportunity to head overseas for much of last year, including a 16^thplace finish at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in St. George, Utah.

“I love to race in Australia and being overseas for the last six months it’s always nice to come home, Geelong is always a special place for me being my first ever race back in 2018, I’m looking forward to it,” said Thek. “I’m probably a little under cooked but that’s ok being the first race of the season, you don’t want to peak for the first race of the year. I’ve been able to put in a couple of weeks of good training after getting back from the US. I’m really excited to race, the field looks amazing and it’s going a really competitive race.

“I was just really grateful to have the opportunity, and be in the position, where I was able to go over there and race, I didn’t take any of the races for granted, obviously being from Melbourne and having family and friends going through lockdown last year, every start line I got to stand on I was super thankful that I was there and having the opportunity to race so much last year really helped,” she said.

“After 2020 when I didn’t get to race much the motivation definitely comes back a lot stronger when there are races that you’re aiming for. It was great to be able to race against some of the best overseas, I realised there’s a lot more work for me to do to really get to the pointy end of those races, but overall you’re constantly learning things every race and it’s another opportunity to better yourself, racing against really strong fields can elevate you and it’s really great to be on the start line with these amazing athletes who can push you and inspire you to be better.”

While much of the focus will be on the top three ranked athletes on Sunday, those lining up against them on Eastern Beach will be out to ensure they don’t have it all their own way.

Dutch-born athlete Lotte Wilms heads to Geelong with plenty of confidence having won IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast last September, an impressive performance in her first ever IRONMAN 70.3 race.

Wilms was joined on the Sunshine Coast podium by Kirralee Sidiel, with the Queenslander also returning action in Geelong this weekend.

IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong will also feature Japanese Olympian Ai Ueda, who represented her country in triathlon at the Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Ueda will be making her IRONMAN 70.3 professional debut.

IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong – Female Professional Start List

1 – Ellie Salthouse – Australia

2 – Amelia Watkinson – New Zealand

3 – Grace Thek – Australia

4 – Lotte Wilms – Netherlands

5 – Kirralee Seidel – Australia

6 – Laura Armstrong – New Zealand

8 – Tracy Clinch – Australia

9 – Stephanie Demestichas – Australia

10 – Renee Kiley – Australia

11 – Ai Ueda – Japan