Perfect weather conditions for the 2014 SunSmart Ironman 70.3 event has seen a record breaking times and West Aussie success. With the strongest pro field seen in WA for number of years, the race was bound to expose the 17,000 spectators to something special.

2011 SunSmart Ironman 70.3 Busselton Champion, Tim Van Berkel was up the front of the field all da. Van Berkel pulled away in the run to be crowned champion once again in a time of 3 hours 43 minutes and six seconds. Also in the lead pack for the day was 2nd place Alex Reithmeier, finishing 24 seconds down on Berkel. Sam Appleton who was placed 4th in last year’s event in a sprint finish was 10 seconds back and rounded out the podium.

Event Manager, Ashleigh Davis, stated “It was a fast and exciting race down in Busselton today. Right from the start the Mens field was going flat out priding and exciting race for all”.

Kate Bevilaqua who has placed second for the last two years at this event has finally come away with the win. The WA local who is a crowd favorite was second out of the water but moved into first after Annabel Luxford pulled out after 45km on the bike. Bevilaqua held strong on the run to finish in a time of 4:19:05 ahead of a fast finishing Rebecca Hoschke 4:21:10.  First time Professional athlete and WA local Katy Duffield was overwhelmed with her third place result and time of 4:24:11.

The 2014 SunSmart Ironman 70.3 Busselton is also host to 1700 individuals and 500 teams in the Telstra Teams Challenge taking on the 1.9km swim, 90.1km cycle and 21.1km run. Competitors have 7.5 hours to complete the course that takes them from the pristine conditions of geographe bay and through the beauty of the Tuart Forrest. SunSmart Ironman 70.3 Busselton is the largest event of its type in the Southern Hemisphere.