The Weekend’s Australian Global Triathlon Performances

This weekend has seen Australians feature strongly with Sam Appleton winning Ironman 70.3 Vineman ahead of fellow Australian and multiple Ironman world champion Craig Alexander. Also showing promise was young Australian Jake Montgomery who finished 8th overall amongst some very experienced athletes. Coming in one spot behind Jake was another Australian and very experienced triathlete, Chris McDonald.

Sam Appleton used his strong bike to pull away from the field and once again he backed it up with a stella run showing that he is going to be a threat at the big races coming up. After finishing 2nd to Crowie at Geelong earlier this year Appo has now won their last two head to heads giving him a 2-1 advantage.

The women’s race at Vineman saw another multiple Ironman World Champion and Australian Mirinda Carfrae finish 3rd with former Sydney local and GBR athlete Laura Siddall finishing 5th.

In Germany on one of the biggest triathlon stages in the world Challenge Roth was held in perfect conditions with Australian David Dellow finding his form once again after battling injuries and also finishing off a degree over the last couple of years. Dellow raced strongly for 3rd overall and in the process posted a sub 8hr race. There will be a lot of people in Australia happy to see David back racing at this level with another world class result.

In the women’s race at Challenge Roth Australian Carrie Lester raced brilliantly to finish 2nd overall. Carrie and former 2008 Challenge Roth champion Yvonne van Vlerken both trailed Anja Beranek on to the run and had some work to do. Early on it looked like they would eventually overtake Anja but 42.2kms is a long day. Yvonne took control of the run and Carrie stayed strong to finish 2:16 behind Yvonne. It is great to see Carrie racing strongly. The team is obviously working well.

(We are not quite sure what Meredith’s bike split was. This is what is showing on Ironman.com results. Our guess is 2:14)