Ben Collins of Seattle and Tenille Hoogland of Canada liked their July wins at the San Francisco Triathlon at Treasure Island so much they decided to do it again at the inaugural San Francisco Triathlon at Alcatraz.
The men
Collins emerged from the 1.5-mile swim from Alcatraz to the Marina just one second back of Kyle Leto, then surged to a big lead with a sizzling, race-best 1:02:30 for the challenging, hilly 25-mile bike. Collins, the 2007 USAT National age group champion and ITU age group world champion, then closed the deal with a 4th-best 41:53 for the 7-mile run for a 3:44 margin of victory over Leto and 4:21 over third place Steven Sexton of Pilot Hill, California.
"To win Treasure Island was a career breakthrough," said Collins. "But this is a much tougher course and a smaller but tougher field. So it is encouraging to win a non-drafting North American race after getting my butt kicked in draft legal ITU races."
Collins' 1:02:30 bike split was 2 minutes 30 seconds faster than the next best 1:05:00 posted by Kyle Leto. Collins' 41:53 for the challenging 7-mile run was just 29 seconds slower than the race-best marks posted by Sexton and 7th-place finisher Kenneth Rakestraw of Newport Beach, California.
Collins expected to lead out of the swim, but near the end he looked around and saw Kyle Leto way over to the side and ahead on a different angle toward shore, and Brian Fleischmann and Tom Zaferes nearby. So he bided his time and waited for the bike to make his move. "At the top of the first hill on the bike I was riding with Leto and another guy and all three of us were just killing it and way ahead. Heading up that hill (near the Golden Gate bridge) I thought "They hurt just as much as I do -- and I just stood up and accelerated over the top and just bombed down the down the hill as fast as I could and didn’t hit the brakes once. Then I just kept pushing hard and that's where I took charge."
By the first bike turnaround at the San Francisco Zoo, his lead was a minute. "At the Cliff House I put even more time on them. Coming up out of the beach to the Legion of Honor, it's the hardest part of the course and I charged up the last two hills and I had maybe and a half minutes at T2."
Leto, who was coming in nursing a hip injury, said when Collins made his move on the bike there was no answer. "I was worried about my hip, so I pushed hard to get a 2 minute lead on Steve Sexton and Brian Fleischmann to start the run. I hadn’t been able to do much run training, so I didn’t feel I could catch Ben. But I had just enough to hold Steve off."
The women
Hoogland finished the swim in a virtual dead heat with Amanda Stevens and Kristen Peterson, stayed close to Stevens' wheel on the tough bike, then made her move past Stevens climbing the infamous sand ladder at mile 4.5 of the run to take her second San Francisco win in two months by a margin of 18 seconds over Stevens and by 1:35 over third place finisher and fellow Canadian Melanie McQuaid.
"Amanda (Stevens) and I pushed each other for most of the bike, " said Hoogland. "I just kept her in my sights, and midway through the ride on the Great Highway along the beach she took off a little bit. However, she started to slow a little toward the end of the ride. I thought, 'This will be a hard run for you!' So I closed the gap as much as I could and got to T2 about 10-15 seconds back."
Starting the run, Hoogland said she felt great, especially on the first climb passing the Golden Gate Bridge. "When we started climbing I felt strong and thought, 'OK, I can get her on a climb. I've been training in Kelowna, BC, where there are a lot of hills, and I saw she struggled a bit on the climbs, although she was faster on the downhills."
Coming to the 400-step sand ladder, Hoogland told herself, "OK. This is it. I have to get her here, before the final downhill.
On the sand ladder, Hoogland ran high-stepping straight up the middle of the steps, passing Stevens who grabbed the hand rail on the side. "I'd put time on her on the downhills and I thought I should not try to burn myself climbing the sand ladder and reel her back in on the last downhill," said Stevens. "I did start reeling her in a bit and some age groupers said she looked like she was struggling. But crossing the sidewalk leading to the grass in the finishing chute, I tripped and did a face plant. I was a gymnast in junior high so I did a tuck and roll and got right back up."
But after that spill, the race was over and Hoogland had bagged the $5,00 top prize and Stevens settled for second. After her second straight short course win in San Francisco, Hoogland said she was encouraged enough to believe she had a real chance of making Canada's 2012 Olympic team and join the likes of ITU stars Kirsten Sweetland and 2010 sensation Paula Findlay.
Hoogland's 48:53 run was 38 seconds faster than Stevens and provided her margin of victory. Three time XTERRA world champion Melanie McQuaid, who beat Amanda Stevens at the Lake Stevens 70.3 earlier this summer, could never make up the 4 minutes 16 seconds she lost to Hoogland and Stevens on the swim.
But the off road tri star posted the fastest women's run - 47:43 - which rocketed her the final slot on the podium.
San Francisco Triathlon at Alcatraz
San Francisco, California
August 29, 2010
S 1.5 mi./ B 25 mi./ R 7 mi.
Results
Men
1. Ben Collins (USA) 2:12:17
2. Kyle Leto (USA) 2:16:01
3. Steven Sexton (USA) 2:16:38
4. Brian Fleischmann (USA) 2:17:36
5. Kevin Everett (USA) 2:18:25
6. John Kenny (USA) 2:18:43
7. Kenneth Rakestraw (USA) 2:20:29
8. Damian Hill (USA) 2:21:05
9. Nicholas Thompson (USA) 2:21:48
10. Dan Mackenzie (USA) 2:21:56
Women
1. Tenille Hoogland (CAN) 2:32:38
2. Amanda Stevens (USA) 2:32:56
3. Melanie McQuaid (CAN) 2:34:13
4. Kristen Peterson (USA) 2:38:27
5. Madeleine Oldfield (USA) 2:42:09
6. Courtenay Brown (USA) 2:45:19
7. Charisa Wernick (USA) 2:48:32
8. Julia Grant (NZL) 2:48:44
9. Kelly Dunleavy (USA) 2:55:18
10. Kristen Iavarone (USA) 2:55:40
