Matt Burton got the win at Ironman Cairns holding off Braden Currie and Mike Phillips with Joe Skipper in 6th place. Big result for Burton, who has had some good IM’s in the past, but I think only won at IM west Aus a few years back. He races generally on the back of a strong bike, but today he put about 5 mins into Skipper’s bike split so must be in excellent bike form, then ran really well to keep Currie from catching him.
We will likely see him in the front group starting the run in Kona based on his Bike and solid swim. He often runs around 2:45 and did again in Cairns, if he can get that down a little he could be a dark horse in Hawaii. Apparently it was really hot in Cairns yesterday, with lighter winds. It looks like skipper is just off his best thus far this season, but not far away. It was good he made it to Aus to race. Too bad Sam Long pulled out, there were 4 kona slots and 3 of the top guys already had a slot so he would have been likely able to pick up a slot.
Better than that, he took 10 minutes off of Cam Wurf’s bike course record, and then ran a 2;44. I think Braden had his 2;37 in him he has ran there, but Matt took a lot of the sting out of the fast runners by setting that bike pace they had to chase…
I think you are right in that Kona should be a good course for him, especially if he shows up in this type of shape and race readiness…
Wow 10 mins off Wurf record, I didnt realise that. Very impressive.
And looked good doing it. Kit & position were mint. I watched the whole race as well. I saw when he went away from Josh. + 0:02 ballooned to + 5:00 I figured he have a good chance at victory. Must’ve felt great from his perspective. Seems like a solid guy.