Kemp, Hauschildt top Geelong
Christian Kemp and Melissa Hauschildt won the Urban Hotels Geelong Long Course Triathlon in Australia Sunday.
Men
Kemp, who won last month’s Asian-Pacific Championship over Bevan Docherty, placed first in a time of 3:47:28 with a 28 seconds margin of victory over runner-up Luke Bell, who edged James Hodge by one second for the runner-up slot. Leon Griffin followed Hodge by 6 seconds to take 4th, with Clayton Fettell, the 2012 champion, 53 seconds further back in 5th place.
Fettell led the main contenders with a 21:36 swim that put him 17 seconds ahead of Hodge, 23 seconds ahead of Kemp, 26 seconds ahead of Bell and 1:22 ahead of Griffin.
After a 4th-best 2:09:51 bike split, Fettell led into T2 at 2:32:55, followed one second later by Kemp (2:09:26 bike split), 4 seconds later by Hodge (2:33:00 bike split), 2 seconds further back by Bell (2:09:28 bike split) with Leon Griffin another 3:38 in arrears.
Of the top 4, Kemp had the most firepower left for the run as his 2nd-best 1:13:39 half marathon brought him to the line in 3:47:21 with a 32-seconds margin of victory over Bell (1:14:08 run) and 2:27 over 3rd-place finisher James Hodge.
Leon Griffin made up a lot of ground lost with his dilatory swim with a race-best 1:12:31 run which brought him, home 4th in 3:49:55, 7 seconds back of Hodge and 53 seconds ahead of Clayton Fettell, who fell to 5th with a 1:16:57 run.
"At the start of the bike when we got away with Clayton (Fettell) and James (Hodge) we were just getting further and further away from those behind us, and I just kept telling myself to hang on, the longer you can hang with these boys, the better it will be later," said Kemp.
Two eagerly awaited ITU stars met with disappointing results in this long course outing. Brad Kahlefeldt suffered a puncture which could not be fixed and 3-time ITU Olympic distance World Champion Peter Robertson came out of retirement to embark on a long course career but did not finish.
Women
The women’s race evolved into the battle of Australian world champions — between 2011 Ironman 70.3 World Champ Melissa Hauschildt and two-time ITU Olympic distance World titlist Emma Moffatt.
Moffatt aced the swim with a 22:52 mark that put 3:31 on Hauschildt, the former world class 3000 meter hurdler who was a very latecomer to the pool.
On the bike, Hauschildt quickly overcame her deficit with a race-fastest 2:21:44 bike split that gave her a 1:21 lead over Moffatt.
Moffatt made a huge charge on the run, coming with 15 seconds of Hauschildt before redlining and fading. At the finish, Hauschildt’s 1:20:35 half marathon surrendered a few seconds to Moffatt, who was 1:16 back of her rival at the finish.
"It was pretty scary being chased down; usually I am the one chasing people down. I could just see Moffy closing the gap. I was watching every split and she was catching me, and I was just praying that she would blow," said Hauschildt.
Moffatt also had a few thoughts about her long course outing in Geelong. "I really enjoyed it until about 15-kilometre into the run, and then I questioned what I was doing and I couldn’t wait until my next Olympic Distance."
Urban Hotels Geelong Long Course Triathlon
Geelong, Australia
February 10, 2013
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Chris Kemp (AUS) 3:47:28
2. Luke Bell (AUS) 3:47:56
3. James Hodge (AUS) 3:49:57
4. Leon Griffin (AUS) 3:50:03
5. Clayton Fettell (AUS) 3:50:56
6. Tim Berkel (AUS) 3:54:36
7. Marko Albert (EST) 3:54:54
8. Matthew Pellow (AUS) 3:55:38
9. James Seear (AUS) 3:57:24
10. Mitchell Anderson (AUS) 3:59:04
Women
1. Melissa Hauschildt (AUS) 4:11:20
2. Emma Moffatt (AUS) 4:12:36
3. Anna Cleaver (AUS) 4:24:03
4. Tenille Hoogland (CAN) 4:26:16
5. Michelle Wu (AUS) 4:27:34
6. Matilda Raynolds (AUS) 4:30:55
7. Wendy McAlpine (AUS) 4:31:10
8. Michelle Gailey (AUS) 4:31:30
9. Kiyomi Niwata (JPN) 4:31:36
10. Linda Schuecker (AUS) 4:31:59
