Liz Blatchford retains Pearl iZUMi Huskisson Long Course title

Liz Blatchford has successfully defended her Huskisson Long Course title after dueling with Lisa Marangon for the entire swim and bike before slowly pulling away on the run and taking her second win here.

Lisa and Liz had Carrie Lester with them for the first half of the swim. At the midway point the two faster swimmers put the accelerator down and quickly pulled away from Carrie to build a 2min lead by T1.

On to the bike and the two leaders rode together with Liz surging a few times to try and drop Lisa. That didn’t happen and they both hit T2 for the race to be won on the run.

During the bike leg, the two women stayed together, building their lead on Lester to almost 4 minutes at the start of the run. Liz had been nursing an inflamed ankle before the race. But any doubts about her being race-fit were quickly dispelled when she made her move in the opening kilometers of the 20k. Lisa was not able to return, allowing Liz a controlled run for a comfortable win.

Liz was obviously pleased with her first win of the year, “Early races are always a test of your form. So it’s nice to start with a win. The good news is that my ankle felt all right. It was strapped really tightly, so it didn’t bother me too much. I felt it a little when I ran out of the water, but I just tried not to focus on it too much. In the bike leg, Lisa and I worked hard to put some time on the rest of the girls, but I still felt fresh going into T2. I started the run at a decent pace and then focused on doing what I had to do to control the race. Next up is the Batemans Bay Challenge in three weeks. Another half distance race, but it’s my first ever Challenge race, so I’m excited.”

Carrie Lester had a great hitout before she heads off overseas to California for a while. Lester has recently joined Team Selts and will be joining the team and starting the next phase in her professional career.

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