What Happens in Vegas
The rough conditions that sometimes accompany Spring in Las Vegas greeted athletes at the second annual Leadman Triathlon. This year the distance was halved, and the race plays out like something between a 70.3 and the ITU Worlds distance.
It's great for pros who don't want to recover from a pounding run, but if the bike leg is difficult it makes for a hard day at the office. Angela Naeth seems to relish hard days, especially on the bike. Her 3:17:39 bike split bested most of the men and her finish time 5:07:51 was more than enough to prevail over the women's field, and would have placed her 5th among the men.
Maik Twelsiek, for his part, also did his damage on the bike with a 2:59:03 split, and cruised to a comfortable 6-minute win to take the men's crown.
"It was an awesome event on a tough course, which race-day conditions made really, really tough. I have never even seen wind like that in Hawaii," said Maik Twelsiek to slowtwitch.
The swim-bike heavy race ratio that characterizes Life Time Fitness's Leadman Tri will shift to Bend, Oregon in September, with both a "full" 250k Leadman and the "half" Leadman, which was the only distance raced in Vegas today. Next year, both a full and a half Leadman are promised for Vegas.
Leadman Las Vegas
Las Vegas, NV
March 31, 2012
2.5k swim / 109k bike / 13k run
Men
1. Maik Twelsiek 4:44:57
2. Matthew Russell 4:50:33
3. Thomas Gerlach 4:52:32
4. Ian Mikelson 4:59:38
5. Doug MacLean 5:09:46
Women
1. Angela Naeth 5:07:51
2. Jackie Arendt 5:23:49
3. Christine Anderson 5:32:22
4. Charis Wernick 5:35:21
5. Uli Bromme 5:38:23
