Romain Guillaume reigns supreme at Ironman 70.3 South Africa

South Africa’s IRONMAN 70.3 is notorious for its gruelling bike leg, but the local pros pushed hard. Ultimately, it was Frenchman Romain Guillaume who took out the win.

Pack of six at T1 all eyeing the podium

The men lined up on the dark sandy beach, jostling into position. As the whistle sounded, the athletes sped towards the gentle waves and commenced the 1.9km open water swim. The top ranking pros were nestled in the lead pack, but it was Great Britain’s Mark Threlfall who was in the lead at the first transition with a swim time of 25:50. He had only a very narrow margin, though, with six pros right behind him, including Evert Scheltinga with a swim time of 25:55 and Frenchman Romain Guillaume in third with 25:57.

Gruelling bike leg proves turning point

With just 16 seconds separating the first six swimmers as they approached the first transition, the athletes prepared themselves for the infamously difficult rolling hills of the bike leg. After a strong swim, Frenchman Romain Guillaume took the lead on the 90km bike leg. The undulating inclines and descents of the course saw a strong lead pack develop including key local South African pros James Cunnama, Kyle Buckingham, Stuart Marais and Evert Scheltinga of the Netherlands. All spectators were hoping for an all-South African podium, but the race wasn’t over just yet.

Frenchman destroys dreams of an all-South African podium

As the men approached T2, the race looked as though it had taken its toll on Guillaume but he quickly found his second wind and once again found the lead. Twelve kilometres into the 21km race, Guillaume had well and truly established his lead, creating a huge five-minute gap between himself and local favourite James Cunnama who was running fiercely well. Another fellow South African was just two minutes behind in third place.

As the finish line loomed, Cunnama had run the fastest run leg with just 01:16:52, but it wasn’t enough to secure the win. With power still left in his legs, Guillaume continued to surge forwards and reached the finish line in first with a final time of 04:08:58. Meanwhile, Cunnama came second in 04:11:27, and Buckingham was third with a time of 04:14:30.

Guillame says both Cunnama and Buckingham kept the pressure on. “I was worried about this guy, I had a very good swim and then on the bike I had no choice, pushing hard to make a gap,” he said. “I did my best it was a perfect race for me. I am very happy.”

Check out Trizone’s recap of the women’s race, with Jodie Cunnama taking out her seventh consecutive win at this challenging event.