Ironman Geelong 70.3 Brings the Heat with Stacked Pro Field

A ton of pros have descended on Geelong this weekend for another swing at the 70.3 race. Geelong, no stranger to hosting triathlons, is a superb venue for a race and provides competitors with an honest and at times stiflingly hot course on which to race. Forecasts for this weekend remain sane so the fierce heat of previous editions looks to have an appointment elsewhere.

However the heat of battle will be on as the top 10 men’s pros here in Geelong are certainly strong and a credit to organisers for attracting this sort of field for this event. And this pertains to both the men’s and women’s races.

Craig Alexander battled and won against the highly touted Sam Appleton and took line honours a year ago He is back and with a pedigree like his it is still hard not install him as race favourite. And while his Ironman racing career might be shelved he is still incredibly sharp over the 70.3 distance. His biggest threats may come from Cyril Viennot, Josh Amberger, David Dellow, Callum Milward or Per Bittner. All these athletes are proven at this distance and are no doubt eyeing the points and title on offer.

A few athletes of interest include former world Ironman Champion Pete Jacobs and Clayton Fettell. For Jacobs the road back from injury and into some sort of race winning form has been elusive. The same could be said for Fettell who had the 70.3 world by the neck a couple of seasons ago. Both need to start to put runs on the board.

The women’s race sees Mel Hauschildt as the favourite. Her 70.3 talents are off the wall and she is usually unbeatable. But. The but is that she too has had her injury issues and was a big name casualty last October. Annabel Luxford fell foul of illness a week ago at the Challenge race so she might be questionable. Radka Vodickova is a dynamite racer at this distance and Yvonne Van Vlerken is a serious threat to win. You can never write her off. She has been living in this neck of the woods during the Australia Summer so she knows these roads so well.

Emma Pooley’s talents are well known and the same should be said for one of the unsung speedsters of Australian triathlon in Carrie Lester. Throw Andrea Forrest, Mel Burke, Lisa Marangon and Michelle Wu and you have a field that will put on a great show.