Alexander, Wellington defend Ironman titles

Australia's Craig Alexander and Britain's Chrissie Wellington successfully defended their endurance titles, winning the 2009 Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, yesterday.

Alexander, 36, conquered the 226.3 kilometre course in eight hours, 20 minutes, 21 seconds to finish ahead of runner-up Chris Lieto, of the United States.

"It was so hard today," Alexander said. "The beautiful thing about this race is that every time you race here you learn something about yourself."

Wellington won the triathlon in a record time of 8:54.02 to break the old mark of 8:55.28 set by Paula Newby-Fraser 17 years ago.

Alexander finished more than two minutes ahead of Lieto (8:22.56) while Germany's Andreas Raelert was third 8:24.32. Alexander started his day with a 3.8-km swim in scenic Kailua Bay before jumping on his bike for a 180.2-km pedal. He finished with a 42.1-km run and still had enough energy to high-five people in the crowd as he neared the finish line.

Wellington won for the third consecutive time and she did it in record fashion.

"I never thought I'd come here and break Paula's record," she said.