The city of Port Elizabeth in South Africa was once again hosting Ironman’s African Championships, a regional championship race that attracts stronger fields due its pedigree and larger prize purse.

Leon managed to power through a winter of training in the UK’s tough conditions, and helped by a Lanzarote training camp in January with fellow Cheetham Coaching athlete Arnaud Guilloux, Leon arrived in early March in great shape.

On the morning of the race, lightning and thunderstorms forced the organisers to shorten the swim. Leon rapidly found himself near the front of the race on the bike and once again showed he is one of the strongest cyclists in the sport as he virtually matched Cam Wurf on the bike leg. After a few kilometers on the run, Leon had maintained a solid gap to the rest of the field and ran to the biggest win of his career. So far!

This result has also propelled Leon into the top 10 in the PTO World Rankings, where he now sits in 8th place.