Kelowna's Heather Wurtele couldn't have asked for a better beginning to the 2016 triathlon season.
Wurtele raced to gold for the second time in as many starts, capturing the Ironman 70.3 California title on Saturday in Oceanside, CA.
After coming out of the water in 10th place, Wurtele took over the race with the fastest bike split of the day at 2:22:18.
Wurtele then hung on to a solid lead throughout the running leg to win by more than two minutes over Switzerland's Caroline Steffen in a time of 4:16:17.
“There are just so many strong athletes here that it was just pushing all day, and I was really happy that my body cooperated and let me push that hard," said Wurtele, won her first race of the season two weeks earlier, Ironman 70.3 Monterrey.
It was Wurtele's second career win at Oceanside, having captured the race back in 2014.
Heather's spouse, Trevor Wurtele, competed in the men's race in California and placed seventh overall in 3:57:01.
In Monterrey, Trevor captured the silver medal.