Thomas, Goss win Rev3 Maine
Jesse Thomas and Lauren Goss won the professional titles at the new event in the Rev3 portfolio, taking top shares of the $25,000 purse at the Olympic distance event at Old Orchard Beach, Maine.
The Men
Rev3 Series leader Richie Cunningham sought to defend his Series lead and finished 4th. Jesse Thomas, currently second in the series, won the Olympic distance race and kept his chances for a series title alive.
Brian Fleischmann led the swim but a large pack containing all of the race favorites was a mere 35 seconds behind. Conrad Stoltz and Jesse Thomas were able to outdistance the field with sensational bike splits. Stoltz rode 52:27, more than a minute faster than Thomas and Thomas was nearly 2 minutes ahead of the 3rd man to arrive at T2. Stoltz entered the 10k run with a 73 second lead but Thomas, the former NCAA steeplechase runner from Stanford, had no problem chasing down Stoltz and caught him before 5 kilometers. Thomas took the tape in a time of 1:48:33. Kaleb VanOrt used the best run time of the day to move from 5th to 3rd. Cunningham, who excels at the 70.3 distance, finished 4th.
The Women
Nicole Kelleher and Lauren Goss came into this race ranked 1st and 2nd in the battle for the Rev3 series title and the $25,000 prize that comes with it. While Kelleher outdid Goss at the most recent Rev3 in Wisconsin, it was Goss who came out on top today.
Goss and eventual 2nd place finisher Becky Lavelle took charge of the race from the gun. The two swam away to build a two-minute advantage on the field. Goss and Lavelle rode neck-and-neck throughout the 40k, posting the best and second best bike splits of the day. They entered T2 together and Goss would go onto to smash the 10k with a 36:49 on a course that no other woman broke 39 minutes.
Nicole Kelleher never was able to make inroads on her fiercest competition after a slow swim and finished third. Goss thus overtook Kelleher to take the Rev3 Series lead with 4 races remaining.
Rev3 Maine
Old Orchard Beach, Maine
August 26, 2012
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Results
Pro Men
1. Jesse Thomas (USA) 1:48:33
2. Conrad Stoltz (RSA) 1:50:39
3. Kaleb VanOrt (USA) 1:51:09
4. Richie Cunningham (AUS) 1:52:57
5. David Thompson (USA) 1:53:55
6. Kyle Leto (USA) 1:55:03
7. Tom Francis (NZL) 1:55:55
8. Ethan Brown (USA) 1:56:18
9. James Burns (USA) 1:56:46
10. Devon Palmer (USA) 1:58:37
Pro Women
1. Lauren Goss (USA) 2:02:37
2. Becky Lavelle (USA) 2:06:18
3. Nicole Kelleher (USA) 2:07:35
4. Sarah Gray (USA) 2:10:14
5. Jessica Meyers (USA) 2:11:41
6. Amber Ferreira (USA) 2:12:34
7. Katie Menzies (NZL) 2:13:07
8. Alice Henriques (USA) 2:14:20
9. Courtenay Brown (USA) 2:15:08
10. Karen Smyers (USA) 2:15:26
