KOHALA COAST — Christine Nichols felt pushed but was never too threatened by the field at IRONMAN 70.3 Hawaii on Saturday. ADVERTISING KOHALA COAST — Christine Nichols felt pushed but was never too threatened by the field at IRONMAN 70.3
KOHALA COAST — Christine Nichols felt pushed but was never too threatened by the field at IRONMAN 70.3 Hawaii on Saturday.
Nichols, who races out of Kailua on Oahu, broke the finish line tape in 4 hours 51 minutes and 21 seconds — five minutes faster than second place finisher Shannon Proffit (4:56:27), of Australia.
“It was an awesome course and we had ideal conditions,” Nichols said of her Honu debut. “The day got warmer and warmer, and there were plenty of girls chasing me when I thought my wheels might be coming off towards the end. It kept me moving.”
Proffit and third place finisher Meredith Hill supplied the heat on Nichols’ heels. Both had faster runs than Nichols, but were not able to close the gap after her stellar bike of 2:36:49 gave her a nice cushion heading into the final leg.
The bike portion of the race takes riders along the northern part of the IRONMAN World Championship route, which has been notorious for strong winds that have the potential to throw racers off course and behind schedule. But Saturday, it was all sunshine and very little wind.
“You can’t really ask for a more ideal bike ride when the wind on the Big Island is not kicking you around,” Nichols said.
Joining Nichols in the top 25 females were a handful of Hawaii participants. Sara Bloom of Kailua-Kona finished ninth overall at 5:15:52 and was the top Big Island woman. Mary Castelanelli, of Kilauea, followed close behind to round out the top 10 at 5:16:22.
Kaneohe’s Michelle Simmons (5:20:23), Kailua’s Kathryn Taylor (5:24:40) and Nikki Moreno (5:31:44) of Honolulu also made the top 25. Moreno also won her 35-39 age group.
“It was such a good race,” Nichols said. “Keep moving, one foot in front of the other, and eventually you get to the finish line.”
