Queensland’s Ellie Salthouse and Tasmania’s Jake Birtwhistle have impressed on their way to victory at the 2025 IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast, with both athletes breaking the tape comfortably clear of second place on the spectator-lined finish in Mooloolaba.
Salthouse completed the 1.9km swim, 90km bike, and 21.1km run in 4:05:10 – more than five minutes clear of Sunshine Coast-based Dutch athlete Lotte Wilms. Canberra’s Penny Slater rounded out the podium in 4:12:37.
This was Salthouse’s 19th IRONMAN 70.3 victory but first in Mooloolaba, as she was making her IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast debut.
“I’m feeling happy, I was very pleased with that. I had a few internal goals that I wanted to accomplish, so I got them all, and I’m just really happy to take the overall win. It’s always nice to win on home soil, in front of a home crowd and my family and friends,” Salthouse said.
“This is as close as it gets to my hometown race. It’s always magical to win with the crowd cheering your name, so it’s really special.”
Salthouse was third out of the water, just behind Wilms with Mikayla Messer just over a minute ahead of both. Salthouse made light work of the first few kilometres on the bike, taking the lead almost immediately and steadily continued to extend her gap to the chasing Wilms throughout the 90km.
Out onto the run with a 1:45 lead Salthouse never looked back, getting to work on the first lap to set herself up for a final lap where she could breathe easy and soak in the cheers from the crowd, knowing she had several minutes up her sleeve.
“I wanted to race from the front, that’s always my plan at these races and I wanted to get to the front as soon as possible, so when I came out of the swim just behind Lotte and passed her through T1, I knew I was on for that, so that was the main goal,” Salthouse said.
“It’s a really beautiful course. The second lap of the run I was able to enjoy a little bit more and take it all in and especially the crowd. I mean, the crowd was incredible, I had every person out there shouting my name, so it was really nice to have that. I’ve never raced this race before and it’s so nice to race at home, only an hour from home, so hopefully I’ll be back for more opportunities to race this one again,” she said.
With victory today, both Salthouse and Wilms have secured their slot to the 2026 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice, France. But first, Salthouse will turn her attention to this year’s Precision Fuel & Hydration IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Marbella, Spain on 8 November.
“I’ll start my prep now for Marbella, and we’ve got about eight weeks to go, I think. I was seventh last year, so I’d love a top five if not a podium finish. I think the way my season is progressing a podium is not out of reach. So yeah, keep the goals lofty – that will be my main goal for the year,” she said.
Launceston-based Jake Birtwhistle claimed his second IRONMAN 70.3 title with the victory, two years on from his maiden title at the IRONMAN 70.3 Tasmania race in Hobart.
“I’m feeling really good. That was kind of the plan to come here and get the win, so really glad to tick that box and have a good race out there today,” Birtwhistle said.
“I’m happy to get another win. It’s been a few years since the race in Hobart so it’s nice to stand on the top of the podium again.”
Birtwhistle took the tape in 3:38:29, more than two minutes ahead of Josh Ferris (AUS) in second, with Yoann Colin (AUS) making it an all-Australian podium in third.
Like Salthouse and Wilms, Birtwhistle and Ferris earned their slots to the 2026 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice. And, like Salthouse, Birtwhistle will now turn his attention to the 2025 edition in Marbella this November.
