Jo Lawn had a big win in Australia over the weekend, while 10-time Ironman NZ champion Cameron Brown came third.
Seven-time Ironman NZ winner Lawn destroyed the women's field, finishing 22 minutes ahead of second place getter Madeleine Oldfield at the Port Macquarie 70.3 half ironman race.
"That hurt. I led the swim out and the bike was tough, the wind was really tough out there. It was a really honest ride,” she told Sportzhub
"On the run I thought I was in second place. I gave it all that I had and tried to stay strong. As an Ironman I don't have the same pace but I was really pleased with how that went today."
Meanwhile, Cameron Brown also found the podium in the men's race.
Near the front of the pack coming out of the water, he lost valuable time with a puncture on the bike.
That allowed Joe Gambles to come away with the overall win with Tim Berkel second while Brown put on a searing run to push up to third.
"It was going really well today. I had a good swim and rode up to the lead pack on the bike but with 15km to go I punctured and I lost four or five minutes at that stage. But I ran well for sure.
Those things happen. I had a good solid run and overall I can't be unhappy with that for my first race back after Ironman New Zealand."
Port Macquarie 70.3
Women
1. Joanna Lawn 4:15:26
2. Madeleine Oldfield 4:37:24
3. Michelle Wu 4:41:10
4. Belinda Granger 4:43:53
Men
1. Joe Gambles 3:58:15
2. Tim Berkel 4:01:40
3 .Cameron Brown 4:03:22
4 .Christian Kemp 4:04:11.
5. Joseph Lampe 4:08:59
6. Bryan Rhodes 4:13:41
