Royle, Groff win Super Sprint
A bunch of elite international triathletes – including eight Olympians – hung around San Diego after last weekend's prestigious ITU World Triathlon Series race to take on a rare midweek challenge – the $20,000 Fearless Pro Super Sprint Triathlon in Mission Bay.
After the dust had settled on the flat-out, cut and thrust, high-speed Formula 1 style races, the USA's Sarah Groff atoned for her bonking 7th place finish in the prestigious Olympic distance race on Friday with a perfectly calibrated, wire-to-wire 37-seconds margin of domination over the WTS winner and countrywoman Gwen Jorgensen. And Australian reigning Under 23 World Champion Aaron Royle, who ended his WTS race Saturday with a flat tire, was smiling happily after busting a move and breaking away from Frenchman Laurent Vidal and Russian Ivan Vasiliev on the final straight of the bike before holding off his rivals by a few seconds on the final 1500 meter run segment.
Groff and Royle also had $2,500 winning checks to give their smiles an extra edge – part of a $20,000 prize purse put up by USA Triathlon in the first of three races in a USA Triathlon domestic 2013 Super Sprint Series that will include a similar race in Las Vegas held in conjunction with Interbike this September and a final race at this very venue at South Shores Beach in Mission Bay.
The format differs from the classic Formula 1 Series races held in Australia on the early '90s. Those races were multiple heat races which shuffled the order of the swim bike and run legs. This Super Sprint format is a continuous race that starts with a one lap 375-meter swim, a 4-lap 6 kilometer bike, and two-lap 1.5 kilometer run — all done done twice in rapid succession.
The speeds are awesome and don't allow for much well thought out strategy but demand immediate adaptation to surges and moves.
Men
Royle , Vidal, Vasiliev and Joe Maloy of the U.S. got out front in the initial swim leg and held serve through the first bike, run, second swim and into the last lap of the second bike segment.
"We had a bit of a gap going into the second swim and then we rode together," said Royle. "When we got to the last little bit of the ride, we all looked at each other and we knew the winner was going to come from our group."
With 90 meters to go on the bike, Royle made the winning move. "I got a little bit of a gap coming into transition," he recalled. "So straight on the run, I just took it out. I thought maybe I went too early and they were going to come from behind, so I kept my foot on the gas."
Vidal said he made a mistake.
"Australians typically know how to race these sprints," said Vidal. "On the last straight of the bike, he put 20 meters on us and he was gone. I tried hard, but I have to give him credit. He was quicker you know? I am thinking, 'I'm going to get him!' But your heart rate is at the limit and you can't go faster. He jumped and I couldn’t react. I was not expecting it and it was my mistake."
Despite the loss, Vidal was exhilarated with his performance. "I really like this racing," he said. "This is my first time in a sprint race like this in 5 or 6 years. I am really pleased. I just wish I felt like that on the weekend. I was feeling a bit sick."
Vidal finished in 37:10 with 3 seconds margin on Vidal and 12 seconds on Vasiliev. Joe Maloy of the U.S. was 4th, 2 seconds behind Vasiliev.
Women
Groff matched super-swimmer Sara McLarty out of the water – a big surprise since McLarty used her swim and bike skills to win the November 2010 Super Sprint race in Oceanside.
Groff offered a joking conspiracy theory after the race that McLarty might have been sandbagging on the swim.
"I suspected she might have been helping out her buddy Gwen Jorgensen a bit," said Groff with a laugh, trying to explain why she kept up McLarty. "Trying to slow down the swim? It was a little suspicious. I was thinking, 'Wait a second! McLarty, if you’d wanted to, you’d be five body lengths ahead of me right now. Something's goin' on!' You gotta figure that's part of racing."
On a more serious note, Groff said she learned something from last weekend where she charged out front on the World Triathlon Series swim and the bike before blowing up and falling to 7th.
"I learned from this past weekend to not totally kill it at first. To hold something back a little bit. This sort of racing is fun. It's good times."
Jorgensen chased hard but ultimately lost a few more seconds on the final run leg to Groff's well timed race. "I was just trying to go as fast as I could," said Jorgensen, who won last Friday. "This was my first race in this format and I learned you need one pair of shoes for the first run and another for the second run so you don’t have to worry about where you put 'em."
All in all, Jorgensen said she enjoyed it and was "happy to have a little fun and promote a different racing format."
Fearless Pro Super Sprint Triathlon
South Shores, Mission Beach, California
April 24, 2013
S 2x 375m / B 2x 6km / R 2x 1.5k
Results
Elite Men
1. Aaron Royle (AUS) 37:10 – $2,500
2. Laurent Vidal (FRA) 37:13 – $2,000
3. Ivan Vasiliev (RUS) 37:22 – $1,500
4. Joe Maloy (USA) 37:24 – $1,000
5. Denis Vasliev (RUS) 38:05 – $800
6. Eric Lagerstrom (USA) 38:26 – $700
7. Clark Ellice (NZL) 38:31 – $600
8. Jason Pederson (USA) 38:34 – $400
9. Sean Jefferson (USA) 38:35 – $300
10. Joel Tobin-White (AUS) 38:44 – $200
Elite Women
1. Sarah Groff (USA) 40:05 – $2,500
2. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 40:37 – $2,000
3. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 40:42 – $1,500
4. Sara McLarty (USA) 41:14 – $1,000
5. Aileen Reid (IRL) 41:27 – $800
6. Vendula Frintova (CZE) 41:30 – $700
7. Radka Vodickova (CZE) 41:59 – $600
8. Anna Battiata (USA) 43:20 – $400
9. Julie Ertel (USA) 43:53 – $300
10. Beth Walsh (USA) 45:37 – $200
