February 2012 Races

Gemmell, a former World Aquathlon Champion, had a strong start to the race, as he set the pace with a swim time of 27 minutes 44 seconds. Gemmell managed to hang on to the lead throughout the entire race.

“I have been training very hard and I came here to win. It was a great experience for my first Ironman 70.3 race, and I enjoyed having support from the crowd that was cheering me on,” said Gemmell, who displayed a stellar performance in a stunning debut that marked his first Ironman 70.3 event, and his first race in Singapore.

Coming in a close second was South African James Cunnama, who had hoped to better his second place position at last year’s Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore. However, he narrowly missed out on the title once again with his timing of 3 hours 51 minutes 45 seconds.

“It was a great race and coming in second with a field of professionals is a cause for celebration.  I was behind Kris and was hoping that he would crack and when he did, I would be right there. But Kris held up all the way to the end,” said Cunnama.

Rounding out the top three was Peter Jacobs from Australia, who completed the race in a time of 3 hours 54 minutes 25 seconds.

Former Ironman 70.3 world championship runner-up, Ellis, earns first Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore title

Making an equally remarkable debut in Singapore was Mary Beth Ellis, who blazed through the route with steady pace throughout the race. Despite completing the swim leg in second ^{place and the bike leg in fourth place, the American switched into high gear during the final leg of the race to win the title as she beat fellow American Amy Marsh by a mere 34 seconds.  Ellis eventually completed the race today with a timing of 4 hours 21 minutes 6 seconds.}

^{“I’ve been preparing for this race in Thailand for the past few weeks but was still apprehensive about the heat and humidity here. I think the preparation helped me when I was out there today, and it’s a great feeling to win in my first race here. It was also great to have lots of people cheering me on while watching the race. It was a good day for me,” said Ellis.}

^{Fellow American Marsh completed the race in second place with a timing of 4 hours 22 minutes and 32 seconds. She was leading the female professional field in the swim and bike legs until Ellis's quick speed caught up with her. Coming in third was Australian Michelle Wu, with a time of 4 hours 25 minutes 31 seconds. Michelle added the Singapore podium placing to recent wins in Ironman 70.3 Taiwan and Japan.}