Alexander, Dennis win Big Husky
Showing once again that age 43 is just a number, Craig Alexander won the men’s title and Laura Dennis took the women's crown at the half distance Big Husky Triathlon.
Men
Alexander overcame a 4:11 deficit after the bike leg with a race-best 1:13:50 split for the 20 kilometer run to finish in 3:41:43, giving him a 2:11 margin of victory over Michael Fox and 3:55 over 3rd place Kieran Roche in a 1-2-3 Australian men’s podium.
Former Australian Ironman lifesaving competitor and XTERRA star Ben Allen led the swim in 24:53, which gave him a 3 seconds margin on Michael Fox, 5 seconds on Nuru Somi, 9 seconds on Kieran Roche, 12 seconds on Alexander and 14 seconds on Lachlan Kerin.
Kerin exploded to the front on the bike leg with a race-best 1:55:50 split that gave him a 2:05 lead on Kieran Roche, 4:11 on Alexander, 4:21 on Somi and 4:24 on Fox at T2.
As Kerin was fading off the podium on his way to a 1:22:42 run that left him in 4th place overall, Alexander put the pedal to the metal and finished with a 1:13:50 run. Michael Fox outran the rest of the field with a 1:15:51 split that brought him to 2nd place, 2:11 behind Alexander, 1:14 ahead of 3rd place Kieran Roche and 2:18 ahead of Kerin.
Women
Lauren Parker led the women's swim with a 27:02 split that gave her a 1:22 advantage on both Laura Dennis and Hannah Donaldson and 5:45 on Jennifer Davis.
With a 2nd-best 2:25:39 bike, Parker held off hard-charging Jessica Richard’s women’s fastest 2:18:49 split by 15 seconds at T2. Next, Dennis trailed by 1:59, Hannah Donaldson by 2:23 and Jennifer Davis by 5:04.
Richards and Parker fell off the podium with 1:54:13 and 1:41:14 splits that left them in 5th and 4th places. Dennis charged into the lead with a women’s 2nd-fastest 1:30:50 run that brought her to the finish in 4:28:44 with a 2:51 margin of victory over Davis (women’s-best 1:30:15 run) and 3:28 over 3rd-place Donaldson.
Huskisson Long Course Triathlon
Huskisson, Australia
February 19, 2017
S 2k / B 83k / R 20k
Results
Men
1. Craig Alexander (AUS) 3:41:43
2. Michael Fox (AUS) 3:43:54
3. Kieran Roche (AUS) 3:45:38
4. Lachlan Kerin (AUS) 3:46:12
5. Nuru Somi (AUS) 3:46:48
Women
1. Laura Dennis (AUS) 4:28:44
2. Jennifer Davis (AUS) 4:31:35
3. Hannah Donaldson (AUS) 4:32:12
4. Rowena Moore (AUS) 4:35:51 * F35-39
5. Kate Vernon (AUS) 4:36:42 * F25-29
