Swallow wins her 6th title while Matt Trautman defends his at Ironman 70.3 South Africa

Jodie Swallow showed another demonstration of her strength at the Standard Bank IRONMAN 70.3 South Africa. The 34-year-old Brit had a sensational start-to-finish victory and took her sixth win in Buffalo City. Since 2011, no one has ever been able to follow the Swallow here. This year, the 2010 IRONMAN 70.3 world champion seemed to be on fire.

Swallow was already on her road to a superb victory after the swim. She came into T1 with a lead of more than three minutes ahead of Lucie Zelenkova (RSA) and Susie Cheetham (GBR). On the first half of the bike, Swallow eventually hammered way. Through 45 kilometers she had already opened up a gap of 10 minutes, entering T2 she was more than 15 minutes in front of Germany’s Astrid Stienen. Swallow had a very consistent run, too. She crossed the line with a breath taking lead ahead of Stienen and Annah Watkinson (RSA).

The defending champion took it in the men’s race as well. South African Matt Trautmann exited the water in fifth place, 1:20 minutes behind leader Mark Threlfall (GBR). Trautmann and his compatriot Kyle Buckingham early hook up with Threlfall on the bike, before they made a decisive move. When they hit the 45 kilometer mark, those two were more than 3:30 ahead of a strong chase group including James Cunnama and Stuart Marais (both RSA), Threlfall and Germany’s Konstantin Bachor. Trautmann entered T2 about 30 seconds ahead of Buckingham before adding a consistent run. Especially during the second part of the half marathon, Trautmann was able to put time on Buckingham who had to stay a grueling fight with Cunnama on the final kilometers.

Top 5 Men

1 Matt TRAUTMAN (RSA)           26:02                       2:13:28                  1:17:34                  4:01:52
2 Kyle BUCKINGHAM (RSA)      25:17                       2:14:45                  1:24:23                  4:09:10
3 James CUNNAMA (RSA)          26:07                       2:18:41                  1:19:48                  4:09:11
4 Stuart MARAIS (RSA)                27:18                       2:17:59                  1:19:53                  4:10:22
5 Konstantin BACHOR (GER)    26:04                       2:18:56                  1:24:03                  4:13:54

Top 5 Women

1 Jodie SWALLOW (GBR)         25:15                       2:26:01                   1:27:28              4:23:28
2 Astrid STIENEN (GER)          31:34                       2:34:31                   1:29:49                4:42:00
3 Annah WATKINSON (RSA)  29:08                       2:39:20                  1:29:25                  4:43:34
4 Maria CZESNIK (POL)           29:05                       2:46:14                   1:33:34                  4:55:34
5 Lina-Kristin Schink (SUI)       37:33                       2:41:42                  1:33:23                  4:57:58

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