IRONMAN Cairns results: Jackie Hering completes spectacular US win double in Australia

It was a great day for the US at IRONMAN Cairns as Jackie Hering completed a Pro race win double for the North American raiders Down Under.

Hering, following up the earlier win by Matthew Marquardt in the men’s Pro race, claimed an almost four-minute victory over defending champion Hannah Berry of New Zealand, with Australian-based Dutch athlete Lotte Wilms making it back-to-back podium finishes in Tropical North Queensland in third.

Hering’s performance on Sunday was all the more remarkable given she only made the decision to head to Cairns in the last week, after not finishing at the Qatar Airways IRONMAN Hamburg European Championship in Germany a fortnight ago, and she certainly made the most of her trip to Australia.

“It’s been awesome, I’ve been enjoying it since the minute I got here, and I think as an older athlete, it’s important to mix enjoyment with racing and really get to see some of the places that you go in a race. It helps to bring your general happiness level up, which allows you to race faster.

“So, I think I’ve maximised every moment I’ve been here, and I’m so happy that the race went well. But just because I was enjoying the place, I had a feeling it was going to go well. Cairns is great, love it.

“It feels great to win. This course was so beautiful, it was the best. I just loved it, so fun. The swim was not my favourite, it was a little too choppy for me. The ride, minus the wind, was just gorgeous, it was so special. I just loved it. The crowd support on the run was also really great.

“I was not feeling exceptionally good [on the run] and I know those two girls behind me are actually some of the toughest girls in IRONMAN, those two don’t quit, and they don’t slow down. It wasn’t until coming back on the very last lap that I said, okay, I’m going to make it.”

Swim – Clarke blasts off

New Zealand’s Rebecca Clarke is renowned as one of the strongest swimmers in the sport and showed her pedigree from the outset, hitting the lead early and never looking back, exiting the swim in Palm Cove with an almost minute and a half lead over Wilms, with Berry a further two minutes behind.

Bike – Wilms suffers T2 agony

Clarke held onto the lead for the first 30km of the bike before Wilms joined her, with Wilms then moving ahead, opening up a lead over the chasing pack of Hering, Berry, Australia’s Regan Hollioake and Clarke.

Wilms was first back into Cairns, coming off the bike with a two-and-a-half-minute lead over Berry, with Hering a minute further back, but that lead quickly evaporated for Wilms as she searched for her watch, eventually beginning the run just 30 seconds in front of Berry.

Run – Hering runs down rivals

Berry and Hering chipped away at Wilms’ lead over the first 10km, with the trio coming together at the front before Hering upped the ante and moved ahead, running consistently quicker than her competition across the back half of the marathon on her way to an impressive victory.

Hering’s win was an important one in the context of the IRONMAN Pro Series, giving her the maximum 5,000 points towards her end of year total.

“This is really good, it worked out much better than Hamburg, so super happy. Everything works out how it’s meant to, this is very good points. I’m headed to Lake Placid next, and there’s going to be some very strong ladies there, so we’ll see how that shakes out,” said Hering.

“I bagged the Kona slot today, which was actually the number one most important thing, so that’s sweet. Kona is on my birthday this year, so it should be really fun.”

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