THOUSANDS of people packed into Busselton on Sunday to see Frenchman Jeremy Jurkiewicz and American Elizabeth Lyles take out the SunSmart Ironman WA.
Australia's David Dellow finished third in the men's event while compatriot Lisa Marangon finished in the same position in the women's race.
Swim
Geographe was as calm as it could be for the race start and Jurkiewicz was able to take the lead from the start.
He was out of the water and on the bike first with Australian Luke Bell only seconds behind.
Australia’s Lisa Marangon was the first out of the water in the women’s field with no one close in sight behind her.
Marangon’s strongest legs is the swim and bike so she knew she needed a strong lead in order to stay in front.
VIDEO: Watch highlights of the swim leg below.
Bike
It was all drama during the 180km bike ride for the men with Germany’s Andreas Raelert being forced to pull out at the 70km mark due to a mechanical issue and a pinched nerve in his back.
It was not long after that Aussie Bell was forced to retire after injuring his knee.
Jurkiewicz was able to get a four minute lead in the final change over.
Marangon had a three minute lead over Kate Bevilaqua, Liz Lyles and Rebecca Preston and Michelle Bremer, Julia Grant, Rebecca Hoschke and Germany's Mareen Hufe was not far behind.
However, things started to change when Bremer was able to reduce the deficit by one minute.
Bremer was not able to maintain her momentum and Hufe took the lead from Marangon in the final change over.
VIDEO: Watch highlights of the bike leg below.
Run
The marathon was on and Australia’s Matty White was the first to challenge the Frenchman with compatriot David Dellow not far away.
However, it was Germany’s Markus Thomschke who fought through the pack to claim second.
Dellow looked exhausted as he crossed the finished for third and said he was disappointed because he was not up to his usual standard of fitness.
While Hufe was leading the marathon, Lyles was able to take charge halfway through and held onto the lead until the finish.
Lyles time was close to Gina Crawford’s race record but couldn’t quite beat it.
She was however an impressive nine minutes ahead of Hufe who claimed second and 20 minutes in front of Marangon who was third.
VIDEO: Watch highlights of the run leg below.
