The Weekend Box Jun 28 2015
On the longest weekend days in the Northern Hemisphere, we offer Ironman Nice, XTERRA Switzerland, a 70.3 in West Texas, and a weather shortened duathlon in Philly.
Arthur Forissier and Carina Wasle win XTERRA Switzerland
Twenty year old XTERRA rookie Arthur Forissier of France and 11-year XTERRA veteran Carina Wasle of Austria won XTERRA Switzerland Saturday in Vallee de Joux.
Forissier, who placed 7th overall and top amateur last year at XTERRA France and 32nd at his elite debut at XTERRA Worlds last October, came from far behind after the swim to pass early leader Roger Serrano on the mountain bike leg. He posted the second fastest run of the day to hit the finish in 2:07:10, holding off the day’s fastest run by tall Belgian Kris Coddens for a 35 seconds margin for his first XTERRA major victory. Coddens, coming off a victory last week at XTERRA Greece, held off 3rd-place finisher Roger Serrano by 22 seconds.
Wasle’s victory was her 11th career XTERRA championship title, but first on the European Tour since winning XTERRA Czech in 2009. She won her first title in her rookie season of 2005 in Germany and went on to win twice more there as well as twice at Czech and South Africa and one each at Brazil, Saipan, Guam and now Switzerland.
Despite a rash on her right shoulder from a bike crash in Malaysia, Wasle caught Hungarian Brigitta Poor just before T2 and posted a fine run to finish in 2:29:42 with a 31 seconds margin on Poor and 56 seconds on 3rd-place finisher Helena Erbenova of the Czech Republic.
After five finishes in five races, Serrano leads the European Tour men’s chase with 354 points, followed by Francois Carloni of France with 250 and Albert Soley of Spain with 219. Two-time defending XTERRA World Champion Ruben Ruzafa of Spain, who skipped three of the European Tour races including Switzerland, stands 4th with 175.
Counting all five 2015 races, Brigitta Poor leads the women's standings on the XTERRA European Tour with 383 points, 59 points ahead of Erbenova and 80 points ahead of Louise Fox of Great Britain. Wasle now stands 4th with 161 points achieved in two races.
XTERRA Switzerland
Vallee de Joux, Switzerland
June 28, 2015
Men
1. Arthur Forissier (FRA) 2:07:10
2. Kris Coddens (BEL) 2:07:45
3. Roger Serrano (ESP) 2:08:07
4. Yeray Luxem (BEL) 2:09:01
5. Jan Pyott (SUI) 2:14:01
Women
1. Carina Wasle (AUT) 2:29:42
2. Brigitta Poor (HUN) 2:30:13
3. Lena Erbenova (CZE) 2:30:38
4. Maud Golsteyn (NED) 2:33:24
5. Myriam Guillot (FRA) 2:35:15
Boris Stein and Caitlin Snow win Ironman France
Boris Stein of Germany overcame a big deficit after the swim with a second-fastest bike split and next-best run while Caitlin Snow of the U.S. combined a women's-best swim and a 2nd-fastest run to win the pro titles at Ironman France.
Men
After trailing the 50:36 split of swim leader Sylvain Sudrie by 6:22, Stein went to work on the challenging hills of Nice’s bike course. Stein’s 2nd-best 4:41:18 split overtook everyone but Romain Guillaume of France, who led Stein by 8:34 after a 50:46 swim and a race-best 4:39:01 bike split. Their most dangerous challenger, fleet of foot Victor Del Corral of Spain, had his work cut out for him after a 58:11 swim and 4:44:40 bike split left him 6th, 13:28 arrears starting the run.
After holding to a 3:30 lead after 21 kilometers, Guillaume surrendered to Stein at 25
km and Del Corral not long after. Stein ran 2:44:20 that brought him to the finish in 8:27:32 with a 2:28 margin on Del Corral, who closed with a race-best 2:42:04 run. After his strong swim and gutsy bike, Guillaume held on to the final spot on the podium with a 3:00:01 marathon.
Women
After a runner-up finish last year at Nice, Snow started fast with a women's-best 57:43 swim that gave her a 7 seconds advantage on Jeanne Collonge of France, 5:57 on super-runner Lisa Roberts of the U.S. and 8:57 on Olympic cyclist Emma Pooley of Great Britain.
After a women's 2nd-best 5:21:03 bike split, Collonge led at T2 by 4:25 on Snow, and 8:24 on Pooley, who stormed through Nice’s hills in a women's-best 5:16:34 split. Roberts stood 5th, 9:24 back after a 5:21:07 split.
By 10k into the run, Snow led Roberts by 4:24, Pooley by 5:26 and Collonge was fading out of contention. At the finish, Snow’s 2:58:26 run got her to the line in 9:24:50 with a 1:10 margin of victory over Roberts, who closed fast with a women's-best 2:54:45 marathon. Amateur Linda Guinoiseau of France finished 3rd, 17:09 behind Roberts and 39 seconds ahead of Pooley.
Ironman France
Nice, France
June 28, 2015
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Results
Men
1. Boris Stein (GER) 8:27:32
2. Victor Del Corral (ESP) 8:30:00
3. Romain Guillaume (FRA) 8:34:44
4. Timothy Van Houtem (BEL) 8:44:48 * M30-34
5. Sylvain Sudrie (FRA) 8:48:02
Women
1. Caitlin Snow (USA) 9:24:50
2. Lisa Roberts (USA) 9:26:00
3. Linda Guinoiseau (FRA) 9:43:09 * F40-44
4. Emma Pooley (GBR) 9:43:48
5. Stéphanie Reymond (FRA) 10:01:21
Alicia Kaye and Cameron Dye tops at TriRock Philadelphia
Alicia Kaye outran Sarah Haskins and Cameron Dye’s race-best bike trumped Jason West’s race-best run at TriRock Philadelphia. The event was shortened to a duathlon when heavy rains forced cancellation of the swim portion of the scheduled Olympic distance non-drafting event.
Women
Amateur Erica Hachmeister led the women’s opening 40k bike leg with a 1:04:02 split which gave her a 14 seconds advantage on Haskins, 19 seconds on Kaye and 22 seconds on Indianapolis pro Dani Fischer.
But as Hachmeister faded to 6th with a 40:40 run, Kaye took charge on her way to a women's-best 35:29 10k run which brought her to the finish in 1:40:27 with a 1:38 margin on Haskins and 2:59 on Fischer, who held off Ellie Salthouse of Australia by 4 seconds for the final place on the podium.
Kaye’s win was her second this month, following her Boulder 70.3 win two week ago.
Men
Amateur Chris Nocera of Connecticut led the opening bike segment with a 56:21 split that gave him an 8 seconds lead on pro short course super biker Cam Dye, 52 seconds on Davide Giardini, 63 seconds on 20-24 amateur Andrew Weinstein and 2:24 on swift runner Jason West.
After a race-best 35 seconds transition, Dye led the field into the run trying to defend his lead. His 3rd-fastest 33:42 run split gave back 1:59 to West’s 31:43, but Dye’s early lead led him to the finish in 1:30:45 with a 26 seconds margin of victory over West and 1:48 on 3rd place finisher Giardini.
TriRock Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
June 28, 2015
B 40k / R 10k
Results
Women
1. Alicia Kaye (USA) 1:40:47
2. Sarah Haskins-Kortuem (USA) 1:42:25
3. Dani Fischer (USA) 1:43:46
4. Ellie Salthouse (AUS) 1:43:50
5. Robin Pomeroy (USA) 1:45:26
Men
1. Cameron Dye (USA) 1:30:45
2. Jason West (USA) 1:31:11
3. Davide Giardini (ITA) 1:32:33
4. Chris Nocera (USA) 1:32:35 * M30-34
5. Andrew Weinstein (USA) 1:32:52 * M20-24
Mark Bowstead and Jackie Hering win Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs Lake
New Zealander Mark Bowstead won comfortably and U.S pro Jackie Hering edged fellow U.S. pro Lauren Barnett to take top honors at Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs Lake.
Men
Sam Holmes swam a race-best 23:40 split, 1 second ahead of veteran pro Joe Umphenour, 4 seconds ahead of Bowstead, 5 seconds ahead of Fabio Carvalho of Brazil and 8 seconds up on Justin Metzler. Dangerous biker-runners Mario de Elias of Argentina and Jordan Rapp and Chris Leiferman of the U.S. trailed by 1:17, 1:24 and 1:37 respectively.
Bowstead, who has posted the fastest bike splits at many of his half Ironman races, took charge on the hot and windy Llano Estacado Canyon bike course with a race-best 2:09:09 split that gave him a 4:20 lead on often formidable cyclist Jordan Rapp and 5 minutes on Leiferman.
At 5k into the run, Leiferman passed Rapp and at 8k he had whittled Bowstead’s lead to 4 minutes. On this day, Bowstead’s campaign to improve his run bore fruit as his second-fastest 1:17:53 half marathon split surrendered just 28 seconds to Leiferman and brought the Kiwi to the line in 3:53:04 with a 4:15 margin of victory. Justin Metzler took 3rd in 4:02:34, Christopher Baird was 4th in 4:05:36 and Rapp fell to 5th with a 1:26:45 run in the baking West Texas heat.
Women
From the swim through the bike leg, Holly Lawrence of Great Britain looked like she was going to break through to her first win at the 70.3 distance after a 3rd at Oceanside and a 2nd at Mt. Tremblant. Lawrence was second out of the water, just 4 seconds back of noted swimmer Haley Chura, 1:21 and 1:23 ahead of top contenders Kelly Williamson and Jackie Hering and had a 4-minute cushion on Lauren Barnett.
Lawrence turned on the jets on her way to a women’s-best 2:23:37 bike split that gave her a 7-minute lead on Lauren Barnett and 9 minutes on Hering. In a shocking turn of events, Lawrence ran into problems and withdrew from the race after 5k on the run.
From that point, and with super runner Kelly Williamson too far back to challenge for the win after a 2:38:24 bike split, it was a duel between Hering and Barnett. Thanks to a women's 2nd-fastest 1:21:14 run split that was 2:13 faster than Barnett, Hering finished in 4:18:44 with a 51 seconds advantage on Barnett and 6:13 on Williamson, who closed with a women's best 1:19:10 run.
Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs Lake
Lubbock, Texas
June 28, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Pro Men
1. Mark Bowstead (NZL) 3:53:04
2. Chris Leiferman (USA) 3:57:19
3. Justin Metzler (USA) 4:02:34
4. Christopher Baird (USA) 4:05:36
5. Jordan Rapp (USA) 4:06:42
Pro Women
1. Jackie Hering (USA) 4:18:44
2. Lauren Barnett (USA) 4:19:35
3. Kelly Williamson (USA) 4:24:57
4. Haley Chura (USA) 4:33:49
5. Bailey Hinz (USA) 4:44:30
