Of the 1200 age-group competitors scheduled to take part in the inaugural running of Ironman 70.3 Auckland on Sunday January 20, 2013, 450 made the trip from overseas.
The diverse field included 212 triathletes from Australia.
However the race also included age-group entries from Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Caledonia, Philippines, South Africa, Switzerland and Britain.
Andrew Messick, the Chief Executive Officer of the WTC was also expected to take part in the race.
76-year-old Garth Broadfoot will once again making an Ironman appearance and along with Bob Goddard will compete as the oldest male entries.
The oldest female age-group athlete to register was Tiare Lund (Kumeu), at 67 years of age. Tiare has several World Championship age-group victories to her credit.
The first male age-group athlete to cross the finish line was Adriel Young of the 25-29 age category with a very fast time of 4:13:48.
The fastest female was Jessica Fleming of Australia with a time of 4:45:36. Jessica was in the 35-39 age-group.
An excellent time of 4:16:26 was recorded by Oliver Shaw who could have a future as a pro triathlete in front of him. Olive is in the 18-24 category.
The first three finishers in the category were all under 4:30 on a very challenging Ironman 70.3 course.
The top five finishers in the male 25-29 category were also all under the 4:30 mark.
The first two male finishers in the 50-54 age-group had very respectable finish times. Stephen Phillips and Phil Morreau had times of 4:32:12 and 4:42:34 respectively.
What an amazing effort by John Hellemans, Paul Berry, and Stu Fitch. They are all in the 60-64 age category and blazed across the finish line with times of 4:50:04, 4:49:15, and 5:03:45 respectively.
The race is still in progress and for a look at all the top age-group finishers, visit IronStruck.com.
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