It’s Reed, Norden in Dallas
The Toyota Cup series wrapped up today with Matt Reed convincing anyone who's paying attention that he's tough to beat at this distance, in this format.
Reed was strong in all three disciplines, coming out of the water in front of the main pack, cycling away from all but one rider, and running easily to the win.
Lisa Norden takes her second consecutive Dallas title. The world's second-ranked ITU-format racer showed range and breadth as she took her second no-draft win in two weeks, adding this paycheck to last week's Kaiser Permanente L.A. Tri victory. Sarah Haskins was tough, however, and the world's sixth-ranked woman stuck with Norden until late in the run.
The day started out cold and rainy and the weather never got any better. Not all athletes made it to the finish, and one pro man was seen shivering on the side of the road two miles into the bike ride.
Brazilian Oympian Paulo Miyashiro led out of the water, a half-minute up on a large pack of men. His day ended early when he fell prey to bad navigation, taking a wrong turn on the bike.
The chasing pack—now the lead pack after Miyashiro's misfortune—stayed together for the better part of the 25-mile distance, but, two-thirds of the way through Yank Andy Starkowicz had had enough. Only Reed could follow, and the two built a solid, one-minute lead at T2.
An eight-man chase pack stayed together, the rest of the 27-man field in arrears. It was Bruno Pais, Greg Bennett, Stuart Hayes and Bevan Docherty who separated early and made a run at the leaders.
Starkowicz was on fire, holding a 50 meter edge on Reed out of T2. But, the 6'5" Reed just gobbles up too much ground too quickly, and it was all Starkowicz could do to stand up to the prop wash when Reed sped by.
And that's how it would end for Reed, another day, another dollar. He won both this race and the Toyota Cup Series.
Bennett, Hayes and Docherty ran themselves into a three-man tie for second place until the final meters. Bennett prevailed, leaving 2-time Olympic medalist Docherty in third, Stuart Hayes in fourth. This was a fine finish for Bennett, considering his early season injuries and late season bike crash while training. How he accumulated decent palmares during such a plagued season is God's own mystery.
The women's field featured 5 of the top 20 women in the world, according to the ITU's ranking system. Sweden's Lisa Norden is number-2.
But it's hard to beat the Sarahs out of the water, and that held true today. Groff and Haskins (#17 and #6 in the world respectively), really know how to find each other during the swim. Only Amanda Stevens—a U.S. pro who in her scrounge time eschewed TV sitcoms to became a medical doctor—was the only one to stay with them.
But Julie Dibens was not so far back in T1 that the field's best bike rider couldn't motor herself up to the leaders. And, she did. It was Haskins and Dibens together at T2, but also lurking just tens of seconds back was Norden.
The race was formed and sorted by the time the runners had their running shoes tied. It was Haskins and Norden, may the best girl win. The best girl had been Norden all year long. Only Australia's Emma Moffatt can reliably outrun Norden, and then it's usually by a handful of seconds only.
But Haskins was on Norden's shoulder at mile-2. Around the cone at halfway, Haskins was still there.
At mile-4 it was Norden. And, Haskins. The Swede could not shake the Midwesterner, who was Missouri high school state champion both as a swimmer and a runner.
But as the finish line approached, Norden could not afford to see how much closing footspeed the Yank possessed, and, she opened a 50-meter lead, and Haskins was unable to respond.
Both were winners on the day, however, as Norden took the race but Haskins the Toyota series title. Julie Dibens finished third, Sarah Groff fourth.
Men
1. Matt Reed 1:51:03
2. Greg Bennett 1:51:22
3. Bevan Docherty 1:51:26
4. Stuart Hayes 1:51:31
5. Bruno Pais 1:51:38
Women
1. Lisa Norden 2:01:44
2. Sarah Haskins 2:01:59
3. Julie Dibens 2:03:15
4. Sarah Groff 2:03:33
5. Nicola Spirig 2:04:07
Toyota Cup Series final standings
Men
1. Matt Reed
2. Greg Bennett
3. Paul Matthews
Women
1. Sarah Haskins
2. Julie Dibens
3. Rebeccah Wassner
