Tasmanian Jake Birtwhistle wins Oceania Triathlon in Devonport

One of Tasmania’s premier ironmen has continued his strong start to 2023 with his second win on home soil in as many months.

Jake Birtwhistle competes in the Ironman 70.3 Tasmania. Picture: Linda Higginson

Jake Birtwhistle has continued his strong start to 2023 with a win at the Oceania Triathlon Cup and Sprint Championship in Devonport last weekend.

Just last month the boy from Launceston won his debut IRONMAN 70.3 title in Hobart and it was again the Commonwealth Games representative’s running pedigree that made him a cut above the rest after the field completed four assents of the steep Mersey Bluff hill climb on the 20km bike course.

Jake Birtwhistle claimed victory in the very-first Ironman 70.3 Tasmania in February. Picture: Linda Higginson

The 28-year-old kicked home inside the final 400m to lead home an all-Australian podium from the ACT’s Callum McClusky and Kingscliff’s Brandon Copeland in third.

After McClusky, a winner in the opening Oceania Cup event in New Zealand last month, took an early lead on the Tasmanian with Birtwhistle admitting he thought it was too much to overcome.

“I wasn’t too happy to see Callum take off at the start of the run,” Birtwhistle said.

“He opened up a bit of a gap and I thought that was probably going to be it; in fact I thought for a while I’d be running for second.

“But coming around three-quarters of the way through the first lap I thought I was still in touch and I could maybe claw my way back to him.

“I caught up with about a kilometre-and-a-half to go (of the five kilometre run leg) and sat on him for a while and tried to lower the heart rate a bit and just relax for a while before making an attack. I just held my pace and was able to, in the end, come across the line in first.”

After claiming his second win on home soil in as many months, Birtwhistle said it was nice to keep his winning form going and return to Devonport for a race.

Tasmanian Jake Birtwhistle has recently returned from overseas to compete in Devonport.

“I was really happy to get the opportunity again here this year … it’s been a while since I’ve been able to compete on this course in Devonport,” he said.

“It was exciting and it was a tough race out there today so I’m really quite pleased with how the race panned out.”

In the women’s race Gold Coast-based Kira Hedgeland fought on strongly to take the silver and South Australian Charlotte Derbyshire the bronze behind New Zealand’s in-form Nicole Van der Kaay.