Alexander and Carfrae grab St. Croix titles
Craig Alexander won the 2008 St. Croix Ironman 70.3 triathlon thanks in part to his fantastic 1:15:58 run time. Just like Alexander, Mirinda Carfrae utilized a superb run to take the women's title and with this victory avenged her loss to Dibens in 2007.
Bryan Rhodes was first out of the water, with Simon Lessing, Frederik Van Lierde, Faris Al-Sultan, Craig Alexander, Paul Ambrose and Richie Cunningham in close pursuit. Once on the bikes, Ambrose kept pushing the pace and eventually would be back in T2 first with a very fast bike time. But it was Marino Vanhoenacker who had the fastest bike split of the day and along the way also set a new St. Croix bike course record.
The run though was all about Alexander. His 1:15:59 run split narrowly missed the record run he had set the previous year, and only Patrick Evoe managed to have a run a time that was somewhat in the same stratosphere. Vanhoenacker though managed to have a decent enough run to finish in the runner-up spot, Cunningham meanwhile narrowly out-sprinted Al-Sultan for third place.
In the women's race it was defending champion Julie Dibens who exited the swim in first place, but she was forced to withdraw early on during the bike. Several other women though were quite eager to take her place and fellow Brit Felicity Hart not only surged ahead, she actually managed to have the fastest bike split of the day. Hart entered T2 2 minutes up on Carfrae, who in turn was followed closely by Nina Kraft and neo-pro Bree Wee.
But no one was going to stand in Carfrae’s way once the run started. She quickly caught Hart and in the end was virtually unchallenged. Second place went to Kraft and Wee rounded out the podium.
St. Croix Ironman 70.3
1.2mi swim/56mi bike/13.1mi run
Top 10 Men
1. Craig Alexander (AUS) 4:05:34
2. Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 4:08:41
3. Richie Cunningham (AUS) 4:10:02
4. Faris Al-Sultan (GER) 4:10:15
5. Paul Ambrose (AUS) 4:12:02
6. Massimo Cigana (ITA) 4:12:29
7. Michael Lovato (USA) 4:14:15
8. Marcus Ornellas (BRA) 4:16:07
9. Simon Lessing (USA) 4:17:49
10. Patrick Evoe (USA) 4:17:49
Top 10 Women
1. Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 4:26:56
2. Nina Kraft (GER) 4:36:33
3. Bree Wee (USA) 4:36:45
4. Tyler Stewart (USA) 4:46:31
5. Felicity Hart (GBR) 4:47:13
6. Cynthia Wilson (CAN) 4:47:19
7. Tara Norton (CAN) 4:50:18
8. Amanda Lovato (USA) 4:56:13
9. Stacey Richardson (USA) 5:03:07*
10. Fernanda Keller (BRA) 5:05:39
* Age group athlete
