British age-grouper storms Kona
Catherine Faux finishes ahead of defending champ
While Britain’s pro women Rachel Joyce and Liz Blatchford stole the headlines at Ironman Hawaii last weekend, there is another name which deserves a mention: Catherine Faux, the British age-grouper who placed 10th woman overall.
Faux posted splits of 59:19mins for the 3.8km swim (averaging 1:32mins/100m), 5:04:01 for the 180km bike (averaging 35.5kph) and 3:05:20 for the 42km run (averaging 4:23mins per km) – giving her an overall time of 9:15:16.
This placed her nearly 10 minutes ahead of defending Ironman champion Leanda Cave (GBR), who achieved splits of 54:04mins for the swim, 4:58:54 for the bike and 3:27:38 for the run to cross the finish line 13th in 9:25:07.
“I was pleased with second place last year and thought, equipped with that experience and a year’s consistent training, a win could be possible,” said Faux.
“It was a fast day and went mostly to plan – I knew I was having a good race but was still a little surprised with my time and overall position.”
Sheffield-based medical student Faux was racing in the F25-29 age-group category in her second visit to Kona, after coming second in the same category last year with a time of 9:53:53.
Her high-profile wins to date include the European and World Long Distance Championships (2011 and 2012 respectively), and the Outlaw in 2011.
Check out issue 293 of 220 Triathlon magazine for more on Catherine
Jamie Beach
Former digital editor 
