Chelsea Sodaro from the United States has set a new course record in the women’s event at the Taupō Ironman in New Zealand. She finished the race in eight hours and 40 minutes. Meanwhile, Australian Steve McKenna won the men’s event, completing the race in eight hours and one minute. The Ironman competition, which includes a 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride and 42.2km marathon, is considered one of the toughest endurance events in the world.
McKenna was surprised by his win, saying that everything had to go perfectly for him to come out on top. He beat his closest competitor, Niek Heldoorn from the Netherlands, by nearly three minutes. On the women’s side, Sodaro finished well ahead of second-place winner Els Visser, who completed the race in eight hours and 57 minutes.
The event started at dawn with 2,000 athletes lining up along the shoreline of Lake Taupō. Local iwi Ngāti Tūwharetoa rowed a waka to the shore and performed a haka to challenge the competitors. While professional athletes finished the race in eight to nine hours, many competitors were expected to continue into the night. The final cut-off was 17 hours after the start, with hundreds of supporters cheering on competitors until the last one crossed the finish line.
