Cureton and Skipworth Produce Ironman Effort
2008 Beijing Olympians and WAIS athletes Ben Cureton and Todd Skipworth competed in the gruelling Busselton Ironman last weekend with the pair recording outstanding results.
Cureton and Skipworth were both members of the Australian lightweight four men’s rowing squad that competed in this year’s Olympic Games. Since the Games both men completed a vigorous cross training regime to enable them to compete in one of the most demanding events on the Western Australian sporting calendar.
Competing against over a thousand competitors Cureton won his age division and came home in a time of 8:57:10hours which also placed him 19th overall, whilst Skipworth came second in his age division in a time of 9:03:03hours with a final position of 26th overall.
By winning his age division, Cureton has booked his spot in next year’s Hawaiian Ironman were he will come up against the world’s best endurance athletes in a lung-bursting swim, cycle and run marathon.
Despite finishing second in his age group and only narrowly missing out on an opportunity to face Hawaii, Skipworth can see the longer term benefits from the Ironman challenge.
“The whole experience was amazing and I really enjoyed being involved in the Ironman,” Skipworth said. “Since Beijing I have been looking for cross training exercises to keep the motivation fresh and this event was perfect.”
The Busselton Ironman was won by Port Macquarie resident Tim Berkal, who clocked a sensational time of 8:07:06hours.