Clark Ellice of New Zealand and Daniela Ryf of Switzerland won the Liverpool 5i50 triathlon Sunday amidst high crosswinds and rainy, 54-degree weather.
The Men
Ellice combined a tied-for-4th-best 17:18 swim, 3rd-best 57:02 bike and 2nd-best 30:03 run to finish in 1:45:18 with a 37-seconds margin over runner-up James Seear of Australia and 55 seconds on third-place Ruedi Wild of Switzerland.
Seear posted the fastest swim (16:58) and bike splits (56:55) and Wild had fastest run (29:51).
The USA’s Chris Foster took 4th in 1:47:08 and 1997 ITU Olympic distance World Champion and two-time Ironman World Champion Chris McCormack took 5th, in 1:49:16.
Seear emerged first from the swim in 16:58, followed by Lawrence Fanous (17:06), Richard Stannard (time not available), Ruedi Wild (17:10) and Ellice (17:18).
Ellice had his chain come unhinged 3k into the bike and had to get off and reset it, then rode like a madman to regain contact with the front group.
Seear kept control of the pack and entered T2 with a 20 seconds lead on Ellice who pushed hard throughout the windy bike leg to establish a 1:10 gap on chasers Wild, Chris McCormack, and Chris Foster.
Ellicecharged hard and took over the lead from Seear at 2.5 kilometers into the run. While Wild continued to chop into Ellice’s lead and Seear’s margin with a race-best 29:51 run split, it wasn't enough. Ellice thus took his first 5i50 win with a comfortable 37-seconds margin over Seear and 55 on Wild.
The Women
Ryf combined a tied-for-3rd-best 18:57 swim, a race-fastest 1:00:02 bike split and 3rd-best 34:55 run to finish in 1:54:47 with a 2:01 margin of victory over Alicia Kaye of the United States and 2:16 over 3rd-place finisher Jodie Stimpson of Great Britain.
Defending champion Liz Blatchford of Great Britain placed 4th in 1:57:46 with Jenna Parker of the United States 5th in 1:59:51.
Blatchford emerged from the swim 1st in 18:08, trailed by Stimpson (18:50), Ryf and Parker (18:57), and Kaye (18:59).
Ryf then took charge with a 1:00:02 bike split that was 1:10 faster than Kaye, 3:33 faster than Stimpson, 3:52 faster than Parker and 3:59 faster than Blatchford.
Ryf’s 34:55 run added 1:33 to her margin on Kaye, gave back 1:21 to Stimpson and 14 seconds to Blatchford, and added 39 seconds to her advantage on Parker.
Ryf’s win comes after a win at the Klagenfurt 5i50 on June 11.
Liverpool 5i50
Liverpool, England
July 1, 2012
S 1.5 k / B 40k / R 10k
Results
Pro Men
1. Clark Ellice (NZL) 1:45:18
2. James Seear (AUS) 1:45:55
3. Ruedi Wild (SUI) 1:46:13
4. Chris Foster (USA) 1:47:08
5. Chris McCormack (AUS) 1:49:16
6. Lawrence Fanous (JOR) 1:49:33
7. Roger Witz Barnes (GBR) 1:49:37
8. Antony Costes (FRA) 1:49:52
9. Mark Threlfall (GBR) 1:49:58
10. Ben Howard (GBR) 1:50:12
Pro Women
1. Daniela Ryf (SUI) 1:54:47
2. Alicia Kaye (USA) 1:56:48
3. Jodie Stimpson (GBR) 1:57:03
4. Liz Blatchford (GBR) 1:57:46
5. Jenna Parker (USA) 1:59:51
