Louise Wells enjoyed an impressive outing in Ironman 70.3 Hawaii event, sealing a top-ten overall finish and first place in the 45 to 49 age category on Saturday.

Taking place in the spiritual home of Ironman, Kona, Wells was one of 284 female competitors to take to the start line for a course which consisted of a 1.2-mile swim, followed by a 56-mile bike ride and a 13.1-mile run.

After completing a challenging swim, exiting the water in 84th position, Wells clocked a blistering time of 2hr 41min 21sec on the bike course, the third fastest of all female competitors.

She continued to climb up the places, producing a determined run of 1:50:23, to cross the finish line in a total time of 5:26:00 and claim a highly impressive seventh-place finish overall.

Furthermore, her stellar performance was also good enough to see her earn first place in the 45 to 49 age category, 5½ minutes ahead of her nearest rival.

As well as this being an impressive display from Wells, the race also proved an invaluable outing for the Bermudian triathlete in preparation for the Ironman World Championship, also taking place in Kona, on October 9.

Having qualified for the last year’s World Championship race — with an age-group category victory in Arizona in 2019 — before the Covid-19 pandemic forced a postponement of the event; Wells was able to gain an early insight of what to expect later this year, with Saturday’s course being included in the longer-distance full Ironman course.

“I came out to Hawaii to do this race as practice for the Ironman World Championships in October, which I had already qualified for,” Wells said.

“The bike course for the Hawaii 70.3 covers some of the World Championship course, so it was good to get out there and see what it was like.

“I learnt a lot from the race and got to experience the Kona heat and winds, both of which made it a tough day.

“Overall I was thrilled with the result and I am now looking forward to coming back to race again in October.”