BENDIGO ironman Leon Griffin has celebrated a victory in his first Challenge Penticon half-distance triathlon in Canada.
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Griffin completed the 2km swim, 93km bike leg and 21.1 km run in a time of 3:59:47 to win by less than a minute from Nathan Killam.
Facing a five-minute deficit after the bike leg, Griffin took the lead at the 16km mark of the run.
“Far from being back to full fitness, I had no time to really taper in for this race having only got the ball rolling a few weeks ago on the second half season's training after a long break,” Griffin said.
“So I was even more happy to snag first place, particularly considering I had a five minute deficit to make up after the bike leg, and thus had to produce my fastest half marathon in some time to pull the leader in.”
The Challenge Penticon was Griffin’s first competition since being disqualified from June’s Ironman Boulder event for missing 100m of the run course.
Griffin, who is appealing his disqualification, alleges he was misdirected by a volunteer at one of the turnaround points.
The 37-year-old now lives and trains in Boulder, Colorado.