Kahlefeldt strikes first
The 2010 ITU World Cup series launched in Mooloolaba, Australia and Aussie Brad Kahlefeldt grabbed the first win. Great Britain's Stuart Hayes finished second and Aussie James Seear rounded out the podium.
Dylan McNeice of New Zealand was first out of the water in 18:18 and he had a pretty good sized pack closely behind him. With Javier Gomez not at the start and Courtney Atkinson reportedly under the weather, the field of favorites had gotten smaller, but a tight race was expected nonetheless.
Training partners James Seear and Josh Amberger pushed the pace on the bike as soon as they left T1 and steadily built up their lead. The duo was chased by a pack of 22, with Dutch youngster Jan Van Berkel attempting to bridge across. But the 2 escapees were not letting up and by the time Amberger and Seear approached T2 they had managed to distance the chasers by 1:38, and Van Berkel was still lingering in between.
The 2 Aussies bolted out of transition onto the run and soon after Seear took the lead. Behind him the pack led by Ivan Rana, Brad Kahlefeldt and defending champion Courtney Atkinson took up the pursuit. 4k into run, the chasing group of 20 had dwindled down to Atkinson, Kahlefeldt, Hayes and Aussie Cameron Good, but they still trailed Seear by 90 seconds. With 2k to go, Hayes and Kahlefeldt had managed to pull themselves within 10 seconds of Seear and an exiting finale awaited the spectators in Mooloolaba.
"We were closing in on James Seear quite fast but he still had a bit of a lead going into the final lap. I knew I had to surge again to bridge the gap and get away from Stuey who was running strong on the hard run course," said Kahlefeldt to slowtwitch.
Kahlefeldt passed his countryman with a strong effort and crossed the line first in 1:51:31. Hayes also managed to get past Seear, but the young Aussie held on to third. "I could see them coming, then they went past and I couldn't hold the pace," said Seear.
"I managed to stay away and could enjoy my second win (and 3 Australian title) here in front of the large crowd," added Kahlefeldt. "I always enjoy racing at home and the whole weekend here in Mooloolaba is one of the best events in the world with running races, swim races, kids and over 4000 age groupers."
Runner-up Stuart Hayes was also quite pleased with his placing. "Its been six years since I've been on the podium (ITU that is) so I will cherish this moment because I don't know when the next podium is coming," said Hayes to slowtwitch after the race.
Mooloolaba ITU World Cup
Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia / March 27
Top 10 men
1. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 1:51:31
2. Stuart Hayes (GBR) 1:51:41
3. James Seear (AUS) 1:51:58
4. Dan Wilson (AUS) 1:52:17
5. Danylo Sapunov (UKR) 1:52:37
6. David Hauss (FRA) 1:53:03
7. Ivan Rana (ESP) 1:53:16
8. Jamie Huggett (AUS) 1:53:21
9. Kevin Collington (USA) 1:53:24
10. David Dellow (AUS) 1:53:34
