Bozzone’s win 10 years in the making
Terenzo Bozzone can finally savour victory in Ironman New Zealand.
After five podium finishes between 2009 and 2015, Bozzone was spraying champagne on his rivals as champion after winning in a record race time in the gruelling long-distance triathlon (3.8km swim, 180km bike ride and 42.2km run) in Taupo on Saturday.
The 33-year-old has previously come second in Taupo on four occasions to 12-time winner and race legend Cameron Brown, who again finished on the podium for an amazing 19th consecutive year in one of the world’s greatest endurance races.
Brown came home in third behind Great Britain’s Joe Skipper in second as the top three athletes in the elite men’s race all finished with respective times under the New Zealand course record.
Bozzone’s winning time was seven hours 59 minutes and 56 seconds, smashing Brown’s previous record set in 2016 by more than seven minutes.
This victory has been 10 years in the making for the Auckland athlete after his debut in Taupo in 2008.
Brown, 45, threatened to again chase him down having done so in his previous race victories over the years, but this was Bozzone’s day after dashing clear of Skipper on the final run.
‘‘I went in a little bit harder than I probably should have and I had different goals this year,’’ Bozzone said.
‘‘The biggest thing that kept me going out there was all the competitors, the volunteers, the marshalls and the spectators.
‘‘Everyone was telling me ‘this is your time, your year’, but it’s happened to me a few times when I’m off the bike first [and don’t finish first].’’
Bozzone was leading after the second transition ahead of the final leg, the 42.2km run, with Skipper in pursuit in second.
And after pulling clear during the bike leg with Skipper and Christchurch’s Mike Phillips, he never looked like losing the lead as he ran home.
In the women’s elite race, Great Britain’s Laura Siddall went one better than last year with an emotional dash to the finish line to claim victory. Siddall came second in 2017 to American Jocelyn McCauley.
Auckland’s Teresa Adam led after the swim leg and ended up finishing second in her maiden Ironman event on her 28th birthday.
Siddall and McCauley passed Adam on the bike but the Kiwi chased down and motored past the
defending champion during the final run.
Defending elite men’s champion Braden Currie pulled out due to illness during the cycle leg as he withdrew just after passing the
45km point on the bike. The
30-year-old had been battling the flu all week ahead of competing and it got the better of him.
‘‘It was pretty easy to see my heart rate and numbers were nowhere near what it should have been,’’ Currie said.
‘‘I just felt like absolute rubbish. I kept going in thinking I might come back and hang in there for an hour or two.’’
Currie could not carry on and he reluctantly ended his race early.