Photos: Ironman
By Kent Gray/Triathlon.kiwi
Braden Currie’s bid to win the inaugural Ironman Pro Series is back on track with the Kiwi winning an appeal against his disqualification for speeding on the bike course at Ironman 70.3 Oceanside.
Currie confirmed the successful appeal to Tri NZ. Soon after, the results on Ironman’s new Pro Series website confirmed this. More to follow…
Earlier, the Wanaka 37-year-old’s tilt at the Pro Series title looked in serious jeopardy after he was sensationally DSQ’s from the season opener in California early Sunday (NZ time).
The Wanaka 37-year-old crossed the finish line at Athletic Brewing Co.-sponsored half in a solid 6th only to be DSQ’d for “excessive speeding in a controlled area” on a the bike course, reportedly in a 35mph (56km) controlled decent zone in the Camp Pendleton military camp.
The same fate befell Emma Pallant-Browne after the Brit finished second in the women’s race behind runaway American winner Taylor Knibb. The Brit also had her DSQ overturned, dropping Canadian Paula Findley down to third and Aussie Grace Thek off the podium.
Currie stood to lose a minimum of 1959 points, the haul given to Marc Dubrick after the American was originally elevated from 7th to 6th. However, the Kiwi’s reinstatement to 6th sees him collect 2067 points after finishing the 113km race in 3:53:37.
Canadian Lionel Sanders won in 3:46:24 to collect 2500 points – the maximum available over the 70.3 distance. Points then roll back in diminishing order, at the rate of a point per second, to the winner’s time.
Currie has gone all in on the new series. Oceanside was the first of five races he’s earmarked for 2024, culminating at the 70.3 World Championships in Taupo in mid-December. Athletes can use points from up to five races – including a maximum of three full Ironman distance point hauls – in their bid to cash in on the Pro Series’ US$1.7 million bonus prize pool.
The New Zealander’s next start is slated to be the Ironman North American Championships in Texas, which carries 5000 points for the winner, on April 27.
The Oceanside rollercoaster continues a turburlent run for Currie since his DSQ for littering on the bike course, and eventual reinstatement to 16th place, at the Ironman World Championships in Nice last September. Since then, he’s recorded a DNF at 70.3 Langkawi, 4th at 70.3 Taupo and another DNF at 70.3 Tasmania. A virus also ruled the PTO No.45 out of Ironman NZ on the morning of the full distance race in March.
For the record, the podiums at Oceanside were:
Men
1. Lionel Sanders (CAN) 3:46:24
2. Sam Long (USA) 3:47:35
3. Jackson Laundry (CAN) 3:48:22
Women
1. Taylor Knibb (USA) 4:09:55
2. Emma Pallant-Browne (GRB) 4:20:49
3. Paula Findlay (CAN) 4:21:48
