London 2012 Olympian earns his first Ironman 70.3 podium finish in Putrajaya

Having included Stuart Hayes in our preview of the British Elite Duathlon Championships - and then noted in the weekend preview that he was also listed for Ironman 70.3 Malaysia - it seems that the heat of Malaysia over the mud of Windsor Great Park won that battle. That proved to be a wise choice, ending up in a third place podium finish in Putrajaya.

Australia's three-time Ironman World Champion, Craig 'Crowie' Alexander may be nearing his 43rd birthday, but like Cameron Brown at Ironman New Zealand recently, he's not ready to move aside just yet. Having already won Ironman 70.3 Subic Bay in the Philippines last month, Craig added another victory to his extensive C.V. in Malaysia, having to run down early pace-setter Josh Amberger. It was Amberger you may remember who took second to current Ironman World Champion Jan Frodeno in Dubai earlier this year, race one of the 2016 Triple Crown.

With the fastest swim added to an impressive leg, Amberger headed out onto the run with a lead of more than three minutes over a chase group of seven, among which were Alexander and Hayes. With temperatures reported to be 35°c and above, Alexander ran superbly to pull away from that group, catch Amberger and then go on to a two and a half minute victory margin. Still new to the 70.3 scene, Hayes did well having spent much of the last three years trying to recover from injury, to take third behind Amberger as the heat was, quite literally, on.

Gr8 to see some familiar faces at the start of Malaysia 70.3 @CrowieAlexander @sticksy, Well done Crowie for the win pic.twitter.com/96LO3QwbRs

— Stuart Hayes (@StuHayes13) April 3, 2016

In the women's race, Germany's Carina Brechters was a full minute clear out of the water, before Radka Vodickova (CZE) and Liz Blatchford (AUS) reached dry land together. That pair would be in close contention through the bike leg too, before Vodickova (1:27:19) would win the battle on the run over Blatchford (1:30:56) to repeat the same one-two position from this event two years ago.

Ironman 70.3 Malaysia, Putrajaya - Sunday 3rd April 2016
1.9km / 90km / 21.1km