Massimo Cigana caught long time race leader Björn Andersson in the last few hundred yards of the 2008 Ironman 70.3 Austria and earned the win with a very impressive run split. Yvonne Van-Vlerken took the title in the women’s race.

Danish ITU athlete Rasmus Henning had a great season in 2007 and earned a nice $200,000 paycheck when he won the Hy-Vee race in Des Moines, IA. Rasmus already earned his ticket to Beijing and has his eyes now set completely on the Olympic prize.

Spencer Smith won the ITU World Championships in 1993 and 1994 and also has a couple of Ironman titles to his name. He has finished as high as 5th in Kona but more recently it has been fairly quiet around this charismatic athlete. A 3rd place at 70.3 Florida last weekend though showed that he is far from gone.

Jack Caress is the Chuck Norris of race directors. He has withstood the uppercuts and left hooks of national and world sports federations, delivering his own roundhouse kick to retain ownership of the L.A. Triathlon. Is a home gym infomercial next?

As part of our “industry athlete” series we wanted to know more about the background of Seton Claggett of trisports.com. Seton and his wife Debbie opened trisports.com in Tucson, AZ in 2000, but he did his first triathlon in 1989.

Reigning World Champ Stoltz and Canadian McQuaid take on 97-degree temps, a tough course and tougher field to defend their Temecula titles as best in the West.

Paul Amey won the 2008 Ford Ironman 70.3 Florida thanks in part to a very impressive bike split and a somewhat expected solid run. The women’s event was won by Leanda Cave who had to battle Dede Griesbauer most of the day.

Chris Lieto showed that he is very competitive at any distance as he won the 2008 Columbia Triathlon in Columbia, Maryland despite a very competitive field. Rebecca Wassner led wire to wire and took the victory in the women’s race.

Ryan Barnett’s surgery apparently went better than the doctors had anticipated. No damage to his spinal cord was detected and doctors inserted a titanium plate in his back, running from T1 to T6. They hope to have him starting his rehab sessions as early as tomorrow!

Like many of us, Mike Pigg was inspired to race triathlons when he watched Dave Scott win the 1983 Ironman on TV. Unlike most of us though, the man who would soon be known as Pigg Power managed to finish 7th overall at that event 2 years later.

Janda Ricci-Munn had a tough setback in 2007 but closed out his season as the fastest age grouper at 70.3 Worlds in Clearwater and a top 20 finish overall. He has announced that he has turned professional for 2008 and confirmed that he’ll actually quit one of his other day jobs.

Mike Neill won the 2008 edition of the Gulfcoast Triathlon in Panama City Beach, Florida and narrowly defeated Zach Ruble. The women’s pro title was snagged by Gabriela Loskatova, but the fastest time of the day belonged to age grouper Amy Kloner from Atlanta, Ga.