Lucy Gossage would win the battle of Britain in South Africa, with a superb 2nd at Ironman South Africa and a time of 9:33:07. Gossage finished just ahead of Jodie Swallow, who came across the line in 3rd and a time of 9:33:59, and this result settles one of the most eagerly anticipated domestic battles of the season.

It would be a fantastic day for British distance triathlon as a whole, with not only this super performance from two of the countries finest triathletes battling it out and giving everything, but there was also some brilliant age group performances from age groupers Sam Baxter (1st age-grouper overall), Kelly Van Der Toon (age group win and 8th woman overall) and Frankie Sanjana (9th woman overall) amongst others.

Catch up with the race results here.

With two of our most talented triathetes set for an early season dust-up so early on in the season, anticipation levels were extremely high for a fantastic race in South Africa and Lucy Gossage and Jodie Swallow did not disappoint. Jodie’s abilities and achievements are perhaps better recognised at this level, however interest in Lucy Gossage was high because this was her first race as a full-time athlete and she has ambitions of a Kona bid later in the year.

As is her way, Jodie Swallow attempted to win the race from the front and set a blistering pace of 48:34 continued to lead the race through the bike. Her combined swim with a 5:21:19 ride gave a strong looking lead whilst going out onto the run. The eventual race-winner, Simone Brandli had kept in touch with a well paced 51:00 and 5:36:55, whilst Lucy Gossage was having a lonely bike having lost touch in the swim with a 59:50, nonetheless she was moving up through the field with 5:18:47.

The run became a war of attrition, with all three leaving everything out there as the race headed towards a gruelling yet thrilling climax.

Swallow was being chased down throughout and the fast running Brandli and Gossage chasing her down, the end of the race just wouldn’t come and heartbreakingly for her, she lost her lead to Brandli at the 37m point and then with just a few 100m left in the race, was also edged out of 2nd by Lucy who took 2nd in the most exciting of fashions.

After the race, Lucy Gossage took to Twitter to comment:

What a day! Battle from start to finish. Lonely solo swim and bike. Never dug so deep on run before.Gave it everything and can’t ask more. And thanks so much for all the support. Great to be part of such an exciting race. Think @jodieswallow and I were both broken at the end!

With both likely to meet again in Kona, this is a match-up we can’t wait to see again.

In the men’s race, UK interest was held by Craig Twigg and Martin Cain, who would come 12th (14th including AG) and 18th (82nd including AG) respectively. Craig Twigg obviously having a rough day on the run (3:34:39) as demonstrated by his colourful post-race tweets:

Thanks for all the support, but that was fucking awful! Legs ached the whole day! Solid ride but not what I wanted, run was just dogshit!

As aforementioned, there were superb performances for our age-groupers in South Africa, with the following coming away with superb wins and podiums: Sam Baxter (1st M40-34 - age group champion and 12th overall), Franke Sanjana (2nd F30-34), Jenny Nel (1st F35-39), Helen Munro (3rd F35-39), Gary Whyte (2nd M40-44), Paul Deen (3rd M40-44), Kelly Van Der Toon (1st F40-44), David Labouchere (1st M50-54).

Ironman South Africa results