Liz Blatchford of the BMC-Etixx Pro Triathlon Team powered by Uplace finished 2nd in IM70.3 Putrajaya in Malaysia. The athletes faced brutal condition with temperatures reaching high 30° and extreme humidity.
Liz Blatchford made her return to action after her podium finish at IRONMAN World Championship last season.
German Carina Brechters came first out of the water, followed by Liz Blatchford and Radka Vodickova who were out of the water together in 27 minutes. The pair than quickly took control on the bike. They rode much of the 90km bike within reach of each other before Vodickova picked things up on the run to take the victory in 4:22:16.
Liz Blatchford (swim: 27:04, bike 2:24:04, run: 1:30:56), who enjoyed an excellent start to her season, finished second, with Kate Bevilaqua taking the final spot on the podium.
Liz Blatchford was satisfied with her performance: "Chuffed to get the first race of my season out of the way and come away with a solid 2nd place here in Putrajaya 70.3 . The first one always hurts and it did today especially in the crazy Malaysian heat and humidity. But still I really loved being back out racing after 5 months on the sidelines. I think the race is good starting point for me to build on from here. The body seems to have pulled up well so I'll be ready to get into some solid training in a few days. Next up I have Vietnam 70.3 in 5 weeks and then Cairns Ironman in June".
