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Ironman 2016: Swim, bike | PHOTOS
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Ironman 70.3 | PHOTOS
LENNOX Head triathlete Clayton Fettell opened up a significant eight-minute lead when athletes transitioned from the bike leg to the final run leg.
As one punter summed up on social media throughout the gruelling 180-kilometre ride, Fettell set a scintillating pace and was "riding it like he stole it".
It was unknown territory for the North Coast triathlete who is a recognised swim-biker.
Tim Reed (5:23:29) closed to second ahead of David Dellow (5:23:32), Michael Fox (5:25:55) and Dougal Allan (5:26:28) rounded out the top five.
2015 champ Paul Ambrose was back in seventh.
It would make for an interesting finish as light rain started to fall, which may have played a role in Josh Amberger slipping to sixth place after he was fighting it out with Fettell for first-position earlier in the day.
It is believed Amberger may have suffered mechanical difficulties somewhere on the bike leg once the rain began to fall.
In the women, last year's defending champ Michelle Bremer got off the bike at 6:00:17, an astonishing 12 and a half minutes ahead of American Beth Gerdes (6:12:55) with Dimity-Lee Duke in third with a time of 6:16:45.
It was a handy lead as the rain continued to fall, with Wendy McAlpine back in fourth.