Kiwis sweep in Auckland
Kris Gemmell led a a Kiwi one-two finish at the ITU World Cup in Auckland New Zealand after a brave attack on the bike. Kiwi Andrea Hewitt took the women's title a bit earlier in the day.
The men
Richard Varga led the wetsuit legal swim in Auckland and managed to gain 20 seconds on the chasers led by Bevan Docherty.
With Varga up the road on the bike, the men's field really started to split up on the technical and hard downtown Auckland course. The locals though seemed to be in their element and before too long, Kiwis Bevan Docherty, Kris Gemmell, Tony Dodds and Tom Davison were riding at the front of the race with swim leader Varga from Slovakia, Ryan Fisher from Australia and Ireland's Benjamin Shaw. With about 10k to go in the bike segment Gemmell managed to get a small gap and only Davison managed to get up there. The two worked well together, while further back Fisher, Shaw and Varga were not getting much help from the other two Kiwis. When Gemmel and Davison reached T2 they had carved out a 1 minute advantage.
Davison was speedy in transition, but Gemmell quickly charged past him and into the lead. Inspired by a cousin with brain tumor, Gemmell flew to the win and was very emotional after.
"I'd just like to thank the public for the atmosphere was amazing out there, I'd just like to say that for all those people out there who have struggled with cancer…" said Gemmell.
Docherty finished second and Fisher held on to third.
The women
Andrea Hewitt was in early group of eight after the swim and kept pushing the pace on the bike. The difficult course and fast pace eventually caused 3 athletes to drop from the lead pack, and that left Teresa Adam, Alice Betto, Tomoko Sakimoto, Mariko Adachi and Hewitt to reach the bike-run transition with a more than 2 minute lead over the chasing bunch.
Hewitt then pulled away from the other four and easily ran to the win in front of a massive enthusiastic Kiwi crowd.
"It's amazing, the feeling was so incredible running that last lap. It's actually really hard to run and smile at the same time. But, it was just such a great race," said Hewitt.
ITU World Cup Auckland
Auckland, New Zealand / November 20, 2011
1.5k swim / 40k bike / 10k run
Top men
1. Kris Gemmell (NZL) 1:59:58
2. Bevan Docherty (NZL) 2:01:05
3. Ryan Fisher (AUS) 2:01:18
4. Laurent Vidal (FRA) 2:01:55
5. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 2:02:05
6. Ivan Rana (ESP) 2:02:14
7. Clark Ellice (NZL) 2:02:23
8. Ryan Sissons (NZL) 2:02:47
9. Marek Jasolka (POL) 2:02:58
10. Fabio Carvalho (BRA) 2:03:02
Top women
1. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 2:14:12
2. Tomoko Sakimoto (JAP) 2:15:09
3. Mariko Adachi (JAP) 2:15:22
4. Alice Betto (ITA) 2:15:51
5. Kiymoi Niwata (JAP) 2:16:39
6. Maaike Caelers (NED) 2:17:10
7. Anne Haug (GER) 2:17:14
8. Kathrin Muller (GER) 2:17:34
9. Ai Ueda (JAP) 2:17:49
10. Vicky Holland (GBR) 2:18:05
