Kiwis win Eagleman 70.3
Terenzo Bozzone ran down Andrew Yoder to win the 2010 edition of the 70.3 Eagleman and thus successfully defended his title. Fellow Kiwi Sam Warriner also had a great race and took the women's title leading from start to finish.
The men
A superb swim by David Kahn saw him enter T1 about 1:30 up on a pack that included defending champion Terenzo Bozzone, Philip Graves, Andrew Yoder, Richie Cunningham, Tim Marr and James Cotter.
The anticipated battle on the bike between young cycling prodigies Yoder and Graves did not quite come to fruition. Pennsylvania native Yoder rode away from the Brit and soon took the lead from Kahn. Graves was riding decently well in second position but was steadily losing time to Yoder and unable to drop the dangerous Bozzone. As the leaders hit T2, Yoder was up almost 4 minutes on Graves and had a few seconds more on Bozzone. Cunningham, Cotter, Marr and Kahn were all still in contention after the ride, reaching transition around 20-30 seconds after Bozzone.
Bozzone flew along on the run and slowly reeled in Yoder. The Kiwi was the only runner who managed to run sub 1:20 on that day and crossed the line first with another title in his already impressive resume. Cotter has a superb race too and ran himself into second position. Yoder continued his string of impressive performances and held on for third place here after finishing first in Columbia and third at Kansas 70.3.
"It was a tough day and had to dig really deep to catch Yoder and hold off Cotter," said Bozzone to slowtwitch.
The women
Samantha Warriner managed to exit the water of the Choptank River first, followed closely by Michellie Jones and a bit further back by Samantha McGlone. Desiree Ficker was next into transition, about 90 seconds adrift.
Warriner then pulled away on the bike and with her 2:21:21 split added more distance between herself and her competitors. Only Natascha Badmann rode faster, but the 6-time Ironman World Champion was almost 5 minutes behind the Kiwi after the swim.
Warriner's solid 1:26:17 run sealed the deal and helped her win the 2010 Ironman 70.3 Eagleman. McGlone crossed the line in second and Jones finished in third, thus giving that podium a combined age of 111.
Ironman 70.3 Eagleman
Cambridge, MD / June 13, 2010
Top men
1. Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) 3:58:17
2. James Cotter (USA) 3:59:51
3. Andrew Yoder (USA) 4:00:38
4. Victor Zyemtsev (UKR) 4:03:15
5. David Kahn (USA) 4:04:50
6. Dominic Gillen (USA) 4:05:59
7. Tom Lowe (GBR) 4:08:39
8. Mike Caiazzo (USA) 4:09:12
9. Ryan Grant (CAN) 4:14:30
10. Alex McDonald (USA) 4:15:37
Top women
1. Sam Warriner (NZL) 4:20:01
2. Samantha McGlone (CAN) 4:25:22
3. Michellie Jones (AUS) 4:28:25
4. Desiree Ficker (USA) 4:31:53
5. Kristin Andrews (USA) 4:35:55 *AG W25-29
6. Natascha Badmann (SWI) 4:38:26
7. Mandy McLane (USA) 4:39:26 *AG W30-34
8. Heather Leiggi (USA) 4:39:29
9. Jessica Chong (USA) 4:45:01 *AG W25-29
10. Amie Krasnozon (USA) 4:46:37 *AG W30-34
