Great Britain’s Chrissie Wellington and Australia’s Craig Alexander celebrated first-place titles at the 30th anniversary of the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Alexander, with an Ironman 70.3 World Championship title in addition to a second-place finish last year in Kona, crossed the line with a time of 8:17:45.

The event saw 1,731 athletes officially start the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Defending her current World Championship title, Wellington finished more than ten minutes ahead of her fellow competitors at 9:06:23. Despite mechanical trouble, Wellington took the women’s lead approximately 30 miles into the bike and eclipsed the current women’s run course record with a blistering marathon time of 2:57:44.

ITU Duathlon World Champion, Paul Amey, was top male Brit in 17th with Stephen Bayliss 19th. Bayliss’ fiancée, Bella Comerford, finished seventh in the women’s race to round off an exceptional year which has included three Ironman wins.

Alexander dominated an impressive men’s field consisting of Ironman World Champions such as Chris McCormack, Normann Stadler, Faris Al-Sultan and other top contenders including Chris Lieto, Eneko Llanos, Torbjorn Sindballe, Cameron Brown and Rutger Beke. Alexander, among the top ten throughout the bike portion, further showcased his running prowess taking the lead at the turnaround.

You can get the full race results here.

NBC will air the 2008 Ford Ironman World Championship on December 13, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST. Please check your local listings for specific details.

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