Potts and Ellis take Alcatraz
Andy Potts became a 3 time champion with his win at the 2009 Escape from Alcatraz triathlon in San Francisco. Mary Beth Ellis held off defending champion Leanda Cave on her way to the women's title.
The men
The first person out of the waters in the San Francisco Bay was Clayton Fettell. Hot on his heels were Dustin McLarty and defending champion Andy Potts.
While the swim times were relatively slow, there were some pretty fast bike times among the men. The fastest bike split of the day went Potts in a time of 45:40, and that time beat David Thompson's very fast split by 42 seconds. That time combined with a 2 minute faster swim split brought Potts into T2 almost 3 minutes up on Thompson and a couple minutes more on most everybody else.
Potts then was able to run virtually unchallenged to his third Alcatraz title in as many tries. Thompson held on to second and Graham O’Grady finished third.
A clearly delighted Potts said: "I am thrilled to 3-peat in Alcatraz. It is my favorite race for a good reason. To come away with another victory is really special. The currents were a little slow on the swim which suited me just fine. Ride was challenging as usual and I thought that I rode extremely well. I was able to keep my momentum all the way through every hill and turn. By end of the run I was able to enjoy the finish and really soak in the win."
The women
Becky Lavelle was first out of the water with Leanda Cave, Jasmine Oeinck and Mary Beth Ellis not far behind. Ellis pushed hard and soon rode away from her competitors. By the time she hit T2, her gap on Cave and Lavelle was just about a minute.
Ellis kept a hard pace on the run, but Cave and Lavelle and Cave were not far behind and did not allow Ellis to relax. But the victory was not going to be taken away from Ellis and she crossed the line first in a time of 2:21:23. Cave was second in 2:23:02 and Lavelle rounded out the podium in 2:24:00.
"After a bike mechanical took me out of the race last year, I was very much looking forward to the opportunity to get back out there and give it a go this year," said Ellis to slowtwitch. "I couldn't be happier with the win and can't wait for the chance to go back and defend next year."
Accenture Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon
San Francisco, CA / June 14
Top 10 men
1. Andy Potts (USA) 2:07:25
2. David Thompson (USA) 2:09:51
3. Graham O'Grady (NZL) 2:10:37
4. Brian Fleischmann (USA) 2:12:42
5. Victor Plata (USA) 2:13:52
6. Clayton Fettell (AUS) 2:14:08
7. Bryan Rhodes (NZL) 2:14:37
8. Lewis Elliott (USA) 2:14:44
9. Cameron Dye (USA) 2:16:10
10. Matthew Seymour (USA) 2:16:24
Top 10 women
1. Mary Beth Ellis (USA) 2:21:23
2. Leanda Cave (GBR) 2:23:02
3. Becky Lavelle (USA) 2:24:00
4. Kelly Couch (USA) 2:25:39
5. Michellie Jones (AUS) 2:27:43
6. Jasmine Oeinck (USA) 2:31:52
7. Alexis Smith (USA) 2:34:19
8. Gina Kehr (USA) 2:34:44
9. Kristen Peterson (USA) 2:44:53
10. Eileen Swanson (USA) 2:52:22
