Michelle Mehnert of the University of Colorado won the USA Triathlon Collegiate Nationals Olympic distance non-drafting women’s crown over Erika Erickson of Cal Berkeley and Brittany Braden of San Diego State.
by Tim Carlson, April 13, 2013Colorado won their 4th straight USA Triathlon Collegiate Nationals overall team and men’s team awards; California-Berkeley won the women’s team award and the Elite Triathlon Academy won the Mixed Team relay.
Josiah Middaugh of Vail, Colorado topped Conrad Stoltz of South Africa and Lesley Paterson of Scotland was 4th overall and dominated the women’s field at the XTERRA West Championship at Lake Las Vegas.
Ben Kanute of the University of Arizona and Erin Jones of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs won the USA Triathlon debut sprint distance Draft-Legal Collegiate Championship at Tempe, Arizona
Richie Cunningham of Australia dominated the men’s field thanks to a race-best 1:12:45 run and Emma-Kate Lidbury of Great Britain’s race-best bike trumped Kelly Williamson’s run to win Ironman 70.3 Texas
Ben Collins topped Richard Murray by 1:26 and Helle Frederiksen beat Alicia Kaye of the U.S. by 1:15 to win the men’s and women’s pro titles at the Nautica South Beach Triathlon in Miami.
Two-time Australian Olympian Courtney Atkinson won his very first XTERRA victory and Renata Bucher won her 30th at the XTERRA Great Ocean Road off-road triathlon in Anglesea Victoria, Australia.
Going into its 7th year, the Hy-Vee Triathlon has cut its professional prize purse in half to $500,000, citing long term viability for its elite race and a concurrent wish to expand its series of Midwest IronKids races.
Andy Potts won his 5th Ironman 70.3 California title with a come from behind sprint over Jesse Thomas; Heather Jackson took control early on the run and cruised by a comfortable margin over Heather Wurtele.
Aussie Brett Carter, a former surf lifeguard, pizza delivery lad, coat checker and table busser, got his chance at Brett Sutton’s famed Team TBB at age 31 and the man they call Bulldog is making the most of it.
Prognosticator Timothy Carlson predicts Vanhoenacker, Alexander and Llanos will go 1-2-3 but Rapp and Brown will have something to say in the 2013 Asia Pacific Ironman Championship.
I pick Caroline Steffen, Meredith Kessler and Gina Crawford to go 1-2-3. But can today’s stars hold off the amazing, ever-smiling, never-aging Swiss Miss with the killer bike – 46 year old Natascha Badmann?
ITU World Triathlon Series prize money will increase by $182,000 to $2.25 million; ITU will increase its World Cup series total prize money by $280,800 to $720,000; ITU Olympic distance prize money will rise to nearly $3 million.