Subaru brand ambassador Hannah Berry has capped off her 2023 triathlon season in style, winning the IRONMAN 70.3 Taupo today and securing her slot for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship next year in Taupo.
Berry finished in 4hours:14mins:59secs, proving too strong for runner-up Dutch athlete Lotte Wilms, who finished over 5 minutes behind her. Fellow Kiwi Rebecca Clarke rounded out the podium.
Now in her fourth year as a Subaru ambassador, Berry says her win on the Taupo course was satisfying after her 2023 season started with injury and illness.
"I had an awesome race today and it was a great way to finish the year.”
After the 1.8km swim, Wilms led out of the water, entering T1 alongside Berry and Clarke.
Berry was happy with her swim pace.
“We had some really fast swimmers at this race. I knew the swim was going to be pretty spicy and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to stick with the front girls, but I managed to do that. It shows how my swim has come along in the past 12 months."
She describes the 90km bike ride course as “pretty tough.”
“I found the bike hard but stayed in the front group with Lotte and Rebecca and we managed to put a decent gap on the rest of the field, which was nice.”
A quick transition to the half marathon run set her up well for the final stage. Berry immediately established a significant lead which just continued to grow throughout the run.
“I just tried to settle into my pace and run efficiently, as 21.1km is still a long way to go. That was enough to run away from the rest of the girls and take the win. It was a better run performance than what I was expecting.”
Boosting her onwards was the incredible crowd atmosphere in what is essentially Bay of Plenty-based Berry’s home race.
“The crowd support here in Taupo was massive. The community gets right behind it and there are people cheering the whole way along the run course.”
Berry’s next race is the Tauranga Half on January 20, then the full distance IRONMAN New Zealand race in on March 2.
As she trains and builds towards these two races, Berry will be fitting in some road tripping around the North Island in her Subaru Crosstrek.
IRONMAN 70.3 Taupo results:
- 1. Hannah Berry (NZL) – 4:14:59
- 2. Lotte Wilms (NED) – 4:20:30
- 3. Rebecca Clarke (NZL) – 4:21:46
Catherine Pattison
Public Relations
Inchcape New Zealand LimitedM: +64 27 4455389
E: catherine.pattison@inchcape.co.nz
