Jack Moody runs his way to Challenge Wanaka title

It is renowned as one of the sport’s most scenic venues (hence, part of Sebastian Kienle’s “bucket list” retirement tour – see below), but that’s hardly what New Zealand’s Jack Moody was paying attention to today as he flew through the challenging race course to overcome a four-minute deficit to take the win.

It’s his bucket list race! #wearetriathlon #seeyouatthefinishline #allabouttheathlete pic.twitter.com/nEctHDNwoD

— Challenge Family (@ChallengeFamily) February 17, 2023

The man Moody passed on the run, fellow Kiwi Mike Phillips, had come out of the water in second place (24:04) behind Thomas Heaton  (23:30), with Moody three second s back in sixth place into T2.

By the end of the bike, though, Phillips had put his stamp on the race, hitting T2 with a lead of 2:14 over Australia’s Matt Burton and German 70.3 and Ironman world champ Sebastian Kienle. Moody started the run 4:08 behind in fifth place.

By the halfway point of the run, though, Moody had made up all but 1:04 of the gap, with Phillips trying to hang on to his lead and Kienle sitting in third, 1:55 behind the lead.

Jack Moody can almost smell victory! He is flying like a rocket and is only 45 secs behind leader Mike Phillips now. At the start of the run it was over 4 minutes….! #wearetriathlon #seeyouatthefinishline #allabouttheathlete pic.twitter.com/zWIPmjHhtG

— Challenge Family (@ChallengeFamily) February 17, 2023

Moody continued to fly through the run, easily taking the day in 3:58:01, with Phillips hanging on for second in 4:00:22, with Kienle rounding out the podium in 4:02:57.

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