DAN HALKSWORTH qualified for his second consecutive Ironman World Championship with a superb 2nd place finish in Mont-Tremblant, Canada.
Dan’s performance secures entry into the annual highlight, which takes place in Hawaii in October.
The Islander chased down two-time World Championship runner-up Andreas Raelart on the 26.2 mile run and claimed a phenomenal second place in 8 hours 35 minutes 14 seconds.
The 28-year-old was just under 19 minutes behind the USA’s TJ Tollakson at the event in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. He led Tollakson by six seconds after the 2.4-mile swim, but lost 16 minutes to him on the 112-mile bike ride.
Tollakson was just over three minutes ahead of Halksworth in the final marathon section as the Jerseyman finished in 8 hrs 35 mins 15 secs.
“It was a big result for me – there’s only three races with that many points on the Ironman circuit” he told BBC Radio Jersey.
“I’ve won Ironman UK before, but in my eyes it’s not always been the best competition, so to go out there and beat some of the guys that I beat, for me it’s probably one of the best results I’ve ever had.”
Halksworth needed a top-four result to qualify for the World Ironman Championships in Hawaii in October.
“My whole year has been geared to qualifying for Kona,” said Halksworth. “I’ve had some ups and downs and a bit of bad luck and a bad back as well.
“To get to Kona finally and do it in a better way than I was hoping for was great to be honest.”
It was Halksworth’s first race since missing his defence of the British Ironman title to concentrate on competing for Jersey at the recent Commonwealth Games.
The North American Championship race attracted a strong field ready to battle it out on the Canadian hills for a rich prize purse and valuable Kona Pro Ranking points. Multiple Ironman champions came ready to win and delivered for the fans. Fast racing led to a new mens course record by American TJ Tollakson.
Joining Dan in Kona will be Jersey boy Michael ‘Minky’ Charlton, who qualified via this years Ironman UK in Bolton with a stunning 1st place age group finish. Well done Minky! Click here to hear about Minky’s win.
