Mirinda Carfrae is crowned 2013 GoPro Ironman World Champion in Kona

Today saw the fiercest competition to ever unfold in the history of the Ironman World Championship. The island Gods were particularly kind, with near perfect conditions unfolding; bringing closer competition amongst the professionals, and very fast times from the age groupers. A calm and current assisted swim saw both the male and female professionals exit the water far less spread out than usual, with no breakaways from the front pack, as would be expected from the sports top swimmers. A group of twelve women came out of the water in the lead pack, led by Haley Chura of the USA in 53:55. This lead pack contained eventual runner up Rachel Joyce and third placed Liz Blatchford, in addition teamTBB athletes Jodie Swallow, Caroline Steffen  and defending Ironman World Champion Leanda Cave.

The larger than normal lead pack saw a fast and furious start to the race, which took it’s toll on the large majority of the field later on the run. Meredith Kessler took the lead in the early stages, with a dual for the front developing, and changing the dynamic of a race that is usually far more spread out. 5 minutes back in the second pack, Mirinda Carfrae started the ride in hot pursuit. The leg that usually causes her difficulties couldn’t have been further from the case today, with the Aussie pocket rocket known as ‘Rinnie’ taking the bull by the horns. Rinnie rode a 4:58:20 to commence the marathon eight minutes down on race leader Rachel Joyce; by far the best performance by the Aussie on the bike in Kona.

With a fast bike and cloud cover developing for the run, it was always going to be interesting to see if Rinnie could better her run course record of 2:52:09. Joyce set out at a good pace, initially challenged by Meredith Kessler, but eventually setting up a nice lead of around a minute. Behind the Brit the field was detonating, with Jodie Swallow suffering the effects of a hard ride and later withdrawing from the race. Mary Beth Ellis’ injuries from only 4 weeks prior proved too much for the tough American nicknamed the honey badger, seeing her withdraw in the early stages of the run. Rebekah Keat also withdrew after some mechanical issues, with her cassette coming loose and causing her difficulties on the ride home from Hawi.

Onto the run it was all Rinnie, steadily running time out of the leaders at about 30 seconds per mile. The previous run record holder, Rinnie destroyed her own mark, running a 2:50:38. Rachel Joyce battled on in an attempt to fight back for her lead, failing but holding off a strong challenge from Australian Liz Blatchford and Yvonne Van Vlerken of the Netherlands. Carfare finished first in 8:52:14, Joyce second in 8:57:28 and Blatchford third in 9:03:35.

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