The day we left Mooloolaba the inaugural Sunshine Coast Ironman 70.3 was run so we were able to watch part of this event. This is one of a series of events held throughout the world. The 70.3 in title refers to the distance covered in miles (113 km). The race consists of a 1.9 km swim, a 90 km bike ride and a 21.1 km run (a half marathon) to complete the event.
On the Friday afternoon before the event part of the Esplanade was closed to traffic and the barricades, tents, display boards and other equipment required for staging the Ironman were installed.
On the Sunday we did not get up in time to see the swim that began at 6.00 am but we did watch participants cycling down the Esplanade and some of the runners.
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| Transition area |
The large screen near the finish line provided a view of the race as well as the presentations at the end of the race.
The winner of the event was Pete Jacobs who completed the event in 3:39:59 and when interviewed a few minutes later looked as if he had just completed a light run. Clayon Fettell was second in a time of 3:47:08 followed by Casey Monro 3:50:59.
We were able to stay long enough to watch Gina Crawford from New Zealand cross the line to win the women's section of the race. The race was divided into components including age of competitors plus a team event where different participants competed in each section of the event with combined result going to the team time.
When we drove to the airport we passed cyclists still competing in that section of the event.
The Mooloolaba Triathon is also a regular feature on Mooloolaba's sporting calendar with the twenty-second event scheduled for March next year. The triathon consists of a 1500 m swim, a 40 km bike ride and a 10 km run.
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