Team MotionBased

Pip has finished 3rd in a hard fought Eagleman 70.3 event on Sunday. One of the best fields ever assembled for a 70.3 triathlon lined up including 6 time Hawaii Ironman Champion Natasha Badmann of Switzerland, 2006 Hawaii Ironman Runner Up, Desiree Ficker from the USA, 2007 Ironman Australia Champion Rebekah Keat and 2006 70.3 World Championship Runner up Mirinda Carfrae both of Australia. Even though it was only her second attempt at the distance, Pip had one tactic for the race – to go out hard, put the field under pressure early and to make them chase…hard. The race started perfectly with Pip exiting the swim transition first overall, and onto the bike ahead of all athletes, including the pro men. She attacked the bike course flat out to put good time in to the majority of the field with the exception of super biker Badmann who finally caught Pip in the closing miles of the bike to hold a 1 minute 30 second lead going into the run, with Desiree Ficker a further 1 minute back. True to her race plan, Pip put it all on the line for the win and proceeded to chase down Badmann closing the gap to 58 seconds in the first 3 miles. Pip started to pay for her early pace with about 4 miles to go and eventually Badmann’s experience came through as she posted the World’s fastest ever time for a Half Ironman distance in 4 hours 8 minutes and 18 seconds. It was Mirinda Carfrae with the days fastest run split who caught Pip within the last mile to finish second. Badmann was clearly not happy with being put under pressure and having not raced Pip before did not like the fact that she can ride fast. The reality is that Pip is back. And she means business. Congrats Pip!!