The Weekend Box Feb 9 2014
This weekend found Craig Alexander and Emma Moffatt dominating a hot and windy day at Geelong 70.3, Tony Dodds and Nicky Samuels eking out wins in a very short sprint in Auckland, Rinny Carfrae and Javier Gomez taking honors at the Endurance Live Awards, the ITU awarding Oklahoma the 2016 ITU Long Distance Worlds and an unfortunate German triathlete having a very expensive swim session in Munich.
Crowie conquers heat, wind, age and a tough field to win Geelong 70.3
Craig Alexander and Emma Moffatt won dominating victories at the Ironman 70.3 Geelong Triathlon on a cruelly hot and windy day in Victoria.
Moments after the 3-time Ironman Would Champion and 2-time Ironman 70.3 world titlist finished with a comfortable margin of victory over Tim Reed on a 100-degrees Fahrenheit day, Alexander said he endured cramping on the bike and run legs. “A dry and hot day in Geelong is as tough as it gets,” said Alexander, who added that he had never experienced such tough headwinds on the run in a triathlon. “It was one of those courses where you needed to use your experience and run quick when you were able to do it with the wind and bear down into the wind and be as conservative as possible," he told Australia’s Wide World of Sports magazine.
Alexander’s dominating race against a tough field may quell doubters who thought his worst-ever Ironman World Championship finish last October may signal a career end at age 40. Top Australian Ironman competitor Luke Bell tweeted, “Always confused by media asking if @CrowieAlexander still got it… He NEVER lost it!”
Richie Cunningham saw a Winter Olympic parallel to Alexander’s dominance in another tweet: “Great to see 40+ guys dominating around the world.. [Ole Ainar] Bjoerndalen gold medal in cross country skiing at Sochi and @CrowieAlexander [winning] Geelong 70.3. 40 is the new 20.”
Moffatt won by more than 12 minutes and finished 10th overall including the men. But the 2008 Olympic medalist said her victory was no cakewalk. "The course is tough and the weather conditions out there made it really hard," Moffatt told Australia WOS.
“Right now I don't feel really good, but hopefully in a few days I will be able to reflect positively."
Alexander began with a 5th-best 25:15 swim split that was 5 seconds faster than his most dangerous rival, fellow Australian Tim Reed. Alexander and Reed shed their chasers with respective 2:16:54 and 2:17:01 bike splits before Crowie took control with a 2nd-best 1:20:40 run that was 3:32 faster than Reed.
Underlining the challenging conditions, Alexander finished in an unusually slow 4:06:00 with a 3:34 margin of victory over runner-up Reed.
Brad Kahlefeldt closed with a race-best 1:18:29 run split that could not fully make up for a sub-par 2:24:10 bike split and left the ITU Olympic distance veteran in 3rd place, 1:08 behind Reed. Three-time ITU Olympic distance World Champion Peter Robertson, who has returned to racing at the half Ironman distance, finished 4th, 3:12 back of Kahlefeldt.
Moffatt’s race-best 26:49 swim split put four minutes on her nearest challengers and lengthened that margin with a race-best 2:32:29 bike split and a 2nd-fastet 1:28:28 run that brought her to the line in 4:30:58 with a 12:13 margin over runner-up Rebecca Hoschke and 19:17 over 3rd-place Lisa Marangon.
Geelong Ironman 70.3
Geelong, Australia
February 9, 2014
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Craig Alexander (AUS) 4:06:00
2. Tim Reed (AUS) 4:09:34
3. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 4:10:42
4. Peter Robertson (AUS) 4:13:54
5. Casey Munro (AUS) 4:15:21
Women
1. Emma Moffatt (AUS) 4:30:58
2. Rebecca Hoschke (AUS) 4:43:11
3. Lisa Marangon (AUS) 4:50:15
4. Jessica Fleming (AUS) 4:54:16
5. Tineke Stewart (NZL) 4:56:34
Tony Dodds and Nicky Samuels win Pegasus OTU sprint in New Zealand
The Pegasus Oceania Triathlon Union Sprint Triathlon Oceania Cup gave a persuasive demonstration Sunday in Christchurch that very short races can be faster and more exciting than their longer brethren.
Fellow New Zealanders Tony Dodds and Ryan Sissons ended a wildly back and forth race with identical times at the finish line – with Dodds getting the nod. On a shorter than standard sprint triathlon distances of a 300 meters swim, 10 kilometer bike leg and 2.5 kilometer run, Dodds led the swim in 3:37, followed closely by Sissons in 3:45, then Kiwi Martin Van Barneveld and Ron Darmon of Israel in 3:47, Etienne Diemunsch of France, Tom Davison of New Zealand in 3:48 and Jesse Featonby of Australia in 3:50.
On the bike, Davison surged to the lead with a race-fastest 13:46, followed Sissons in 13:50, Van Barneveld in 13:57, Featonby and Darmon in 13:59, with Dodds shuffled back to 3rd after a 14:07 bike split.
In a slam-bang whirl after swim-T1-Bike-T2, Sissons started the run tied with Davison at 18:27, with Dodds trailing by 8 seconds in 3rd, Van Barneveld 11 seconds down in 4th, and Featonby 14 seconds arrears in 5th.
In a flat-out 2.5 kilometer run, Dodds’ 7:14 split caught Sissons’ 7:23 run right at the line and prevailed by a lean.
In the women’s race Sarissa De Vries of the Netherlands led the swim in 4:08, followed immediately by Jaimee Leader and Rebecca Clark in 4:09, Nicky Samuels in 4:10, with emerging ITU stars Maaike Caelers of the Netherlands in 4:17 and Sophie Corbidge of New Zealand in 4:19 with some ground to make up.
On the bike, Samuels took absolute control with a 15:22 split and Caelers led the chasers with a 15:58 cycling leg. While Caelers ran valiantly, her race-best 8:09 run fell 20 seconds short of overtaking Samuels, whose 4th-best 8:29 run brought her to the finish in 29:05 with a 20 seconds margin of victory over runner-up Caelers and precisely 1 minute over Corbidge, who took the final spot on the podium.
Pegasus OTU Sprint Triathlon Oceania Cup
Christchurch, New Zealand
February 9, 2014
S 300m / B 10k / R 2.5k
Results
Men
1. Tony Dodds (NZL) 25:48
2. Ryan Sissons (NZL) 25:48
3. Martin Van Barneveld (NZL) 25:59
4. Jesse Featonby (AUS) 25:59
5. Ron Darmon (ISR) 26:05
Women
1. Nicky Samuels (NZL) 29:05
2. Maaike Caelers (NED) 29:25
3. Sophie Corbidge (NZL) 30:05
4. Fiona Crombie (NZL) 30:13
5. Jaimee Leader (NZL) 30:17
Oklahoma City will host the 2016 ITU Long Distance World Championships
USA Triathlon, Friends of Multisport and the Redman Triathlon have been awarded the 2016 International Triathlon Union Long Distance Triathlon World Championship to be held in September in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
“The fact that we are able to secure local organizing committees so far in advance is a strong indicator in both the popularity of ITU races and the growth of the sport,” said Marisol Casado, ITU President and IOC Member. “We are thrilled to again work with USA Triathlon to host the championships, as they’ve proven to be an excellent federation that produces top-tier events.”
Elite and age group triathletes will compete on a course which includes a 4 kilometer swim, a 120-kilometer bike leg and a 30 kilometer run. Elites will be vying for a $90,000 purse split equally between men and women. The event will be held on grounds familiar to athletes who have competed in the Redman Triathlon, which has been held at Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City for the past 10 years. The course features a lake swim, rolling hills on the bike leg which includes rural and urban sections, and a closed course run around the lake.
This will mark the third time that the United States has hosted the ITU Long Distance World Championship. The event has been held in Muncie, Indiana in 1996 and in Henderson, Nevada in 2011.
Most expensive, frustrating swim session – Munich, Germany
Long time Team TBB coach Jo Spindler recounted the travails of one of his athletes doggedly trying to get in a swim this Saturday in Munich, Germany:
“One of my athletes broke the record for the most expensive swim session: He had to go to another swimming pool. As weather was messy, he decided to travel one station by underground train. Without a ticket, it was only one station, wasn't it? Result: 40 [Euros] for fare dodging, 40 for the fare dodging bike and another 40 for bike in train during the off time for bikes. Plus entrance fee for the pool of course. So in sum 124 [Euros] for 1.5 hours swimming.” To add insult to injury, Spindler says, “in the pool people felt harassed and insisted to call the police because he splashed their hair (keyword: straight arm recovery). Does anybody still think triathletes have an easy life?”
Two lessons: Don’t take the subway without a ticket. And appreciate it if your pool has many swim lanes. As Slowtwitch editor Herbert Krabel advises, “In many German pools it is a fight between folks standing around who don't want their hair to get wet and folks who want actually to swim.”
Carfrae wins Competitor of the Year, Gomez takes Male Triathlete of the Year
The 22nd annual Endurance Live Awards returned to San Diego Saturday night, honoring triathletes, cyclists, runners, coaches and industry figures for stellar performances and contributions to their sport during the 2013 season.
Top triathletes included Mirinda Carfrae, who earned Competitor of the Year for her record breaking win at the Ironman World Championship in Kona, and Javier Gomez, who won Male Triathlete of the Year for his ITU Olympic Distance World Triathlon Series World Championship, the $100,000 Hy-Vee 5i50, the Escape From Alcatraz and the Challenge Barcelona event. In addition, Breezy Bochenek, who due to cancer had her leg amputated above the knee at age 11, won Challenged Athlete of the Year for completing the Wildflower mountain bike triathlon with her father Stan a few weeks after receiving a prosthetic leg.
Other honorees included:
Former Pittsburgh Steeler Super Bowl MVP and Dancing With the Stars champion Hines Ward won Celebrity Athlete of the Year for losing 35 pounds on his way to finishing the Ironman World Championship.
Chris Horner, who became the first U.S. competitor to win the Vuelta a España and, at age 41, the oldest cyclist to win a grand tour event, won North American Cyclist of the Year.
Timothy Olson, who won the Western States 100 for the second year in a row, won the Male Runner of the Year.
Brenda Martinez, who won the BAA Mile and the Diamond League in London and took bronze at the IAAF Track and Field World Championships in Moscow, won the Female Runner of the Year.
Bob Larsen, who coached Olympic silver medalist and three-time Olympian Meb Keflezighi, won the Running Legend award.
Steve Furness, a two time Olympian who tied the world record in the 200 individual medley in 1974 and who won a bronze medal in the 1972 Olympics, was given the Endurance Live Industry Award for his efforts as founder of TYR Sports in 1985, which has been instrumental in the growth of swimming and triathlon.
