Alexander, Dibens take 70.3 Boise
After out-sprinting Chris Lieto to the finish in 2009, Craig Alexander had to hold off a late charge by Ben Hoffman to win 70.3 Boise 2010 by 10 seconds. Julie Dibens took the women's title despite a hard effort by Linsey Corbin to run her down.
The men
Kiwi Graham O’Grady was first out of the water of the Lucky Peak Reservoir with a fast time of 22:50. Brian Fleischmann and Bryan Rhodes were next out of the water, followed by Kevin Everett, Craig Alexander and Chris Lieto. Of these top 6 though only 2 would finish the race, one one top and the other not quite so well.
Alexander had a 50 second lead over Lieto after the swim and soon was leading the race on the bike. As predicted though, Lieto pushed his way towards the front and with neither athlete relenting during the bike segment, it appeared that a repeat of the 2009 race might be in the books as the 2 hit T2 virtually together. But Lieto was already in trouble on the bike and would eventually drop out. "Frustrating, difficult day. Abductor issues on the bike and ended up straining it beginning of run. Live to fight another day," said Lieto on Twitter.
Now leading by himself on the run, Alexander had another issue at hand. Ben Hoffman had put in the second fastest bike split and reached T2 in third position about a minute behind Alexander. Hoffman also ran well and slightly faster than the 2-time Ironman World Champion who seemed to be struggling with the tough conditions. Alexander though held on for the win and crossed the finish line in 4:02:01, 10 seconds up on Hoffman who grabbed second. Aussie Tim Berkel rounded out the podium.
"I was conservative through the first 3 miles, watching Lieto drop with abductor cramps, and then I started picking it up. It wasn't until mile 9 or so when I realized I was actually pulling time out of Crowie," said Hoffman to slowtwitch. "At that point I said 'why not?' and buried myself for the next two miles, getting within about 8-10 seconds. Crowie had one more burst left, and it broke me around mile 12."
Crowie was very happy with his win and said "I didn't know anything was going on with Chris, I was concerned about myself as I was cramping pretty badly. It was a pretty hard race 6 days earlier at REV 3, in saying that though, Ben had a great race."
The women
Julie Dibens started her day with a great swim and managed to reach T1 with an almost 1:30 lead over Malaika Homo and more than 2 minutes on Andrea Fisher.
Dibens then attacked the bike course with gusto and slowly rode away from all other competitors. Her 2:24:17 bike split was over 6 minutes faster than Linsey Corbin's effort who reached T2 next, almost 10 minutes down. Heather Jackson was a couple seconds faster on the bike than Corbin and reached T2 next, about 11:30 after Dibens.
Despite the almost 10 minute advantage on Corbin, Dibens didn't have the event in the bank and Corbin slowly closed in on the Brit. But in the end Dibens proved to be too strong and crossed the line first in 4:25:14. Corbin crossed the line next in 4:29:22 and Dibens' teammate Heather Jackson was third in 4:34:58.
Earlier in the day Corbin had lost 3:52 in the swim to Dibens, and at the finish line the advantage for Dibens was 4:08.
Ironman 70.3 Boise
Boise, ID / June 12, 2010
Top 10 men
1. Craig Alexander (AUS) 4:02:11
2. Ben Hoffman (USA) 4:02:21
3. Tim Berkel (AUS) 4:08:08
4. Matt White (AUS) 4:08:40
5. Jamie Whyte (NZL) 4:08:56
6. Matt Lieto (USA) 4:09:19
7. Tim Reed (AUS) 4:11:39
8. Jesse Thomas (USA) 4:13:29 *AG M30-34
9. Matthew Sheeks (USA) 4:13:23
10. Nicholas Thompson (USA) 4:14:23
Top 10 women
1. Julie Dibens (GBR) 4:25:14
2. Linsey Corbin (USA) 4:29:22
3. Heather Jackson (USA) 4:34:58
4. Christine Fletcher (CAN) 4:42:42
5. Kate Major (AUS) 4:44:50
6. Charisa Wernick (USA) 4:46:28
7. Uli Bromme (USA) 4:49:13
8. Mackenzie Madison (USA) 4:57:27
9. Trish Deim (USA) 4:57:36 * AG W30-34
10. Lynda Finegold (USA) 4:58:45 * AG W40-44
