Greg Bennett and Becky Lavelle won it on the bike to take home the men’s and women’s pro titles at the Kaiser Permanente City of Los Angeles Triathlon Sunday.
The men
Bennett’s blazing 53:57 bike split on a largely uphill course from Venice Beach to downtown LA averaged 27-plus miles per hour, overcame an 11th–best swim, and gave him a 45-second edge on Andy Potts going into the run. When the 10km run shootout was done, Bennett’s 31:19 run gave back just one second to Potts and earned the defending Life Time Fitness series champion his third straight City of Los Angeles Triathlon win in 1:46:04
“It’s really nice to win again,” said Bennett, who finished third at the Life Time series opener in Minneapolis, won New York, and took second at Chicago. The 36-year-old Aussie, who ran the table last year in the Life Time Fitness series and took home half a million in prize money and bonuses, paid tribute to Potts: “When you’re up against great athletes like Andy Potts, it always makes winning that much sweeter.”
Bennett arrived in Los Angeles with a lung infection from a chest cold, and had a strategy for dealing with it. “I knew I’d have a hard time if it came down to a duel with Andy on the run,” said Bennett. “He’s always strong and likely to run negative splits. So I knew I had to go hard on the bike and bank a lead. When I hit the run, I knew not to go crazy at the start - and it paid off. Luckily the twice-out-and-back course gave me the opportunity to see where my competition stood at three turnarounds, so it was good motivation to keep a good pace."
The women
Lavelle came out of the Pacific Ocean swim in 20:39, third behind 2008 Olympian Julie Ertel (20:20) and Mary Beth Ellis (20:25). On the uphill bike past many of LA’s landmarks from Venice Beach to downtown LA, only Ellis could stay in sight of Lavelle’s race-best 1:01:05 split, arriving in T2 12 seconds back. But once she hit the run, Lavelle poured it on and out split Ellis 36:17 to 37:42. This gave the queen of non-drafting triathlon from Los Gatos, California a 1-minute 24-second margin of victory in 1:59:48.
Coming back from her Olympic high, Ertel gave up 4 minutes on the bike to Lavelle and Ellis and gained back a little with her race-best 35:50 run to finish third, 3-minutes 22-seconds back of the winner. Rebecca Wassner also gave up 4 minutes on the bike, gained back a little with the day's second-best 35:54 run to finish 4th, 34 seconds back of Ertel. Australian Mirinda Carfrae, the current Ironman 70.3 World Champion, finished 5th in 2:06:50.
“It feels really great to finish the race really strong, without any weaknesses, and taking off some of the pressure about the series points championship going into the last race in Dallas,” said Lavelle. “Things were tough at the beginning of the year with the death of my sister Jennifer and nephew Graham. But now I hope I’ve made them proud for me.”
Both of the winners took home $10,000 and virtually unassailable points leads in the 2008 Life Time Fitness triathlon series which will award the season winners $60,000 apiece after the final race next month in Dallas. Lavelle finished third behind Emma Snowsill and Sarah Haskins in Minneapolis, second to Liz Blatchford in New York, and now has won Chicago and LA. She has 31,700 points – 18,650 ahead of Marty Beth Ellis, who placed second to Lavelle in LA, and has thus guaranteed she is eligible for - and is a lock to win - the season-ending points bonus.
Bennett, while not unbeatable as he was last year, finished six seconds behind Simon Whitfield and three seconds behind Andy Potts placing third at Minneapolis; won New York; and took second behind Stuart Hayes in Chicago. With his win at Los Angeles, Bennett also leads the series with 31,700 points, a seemingly invulnerable 9,200 points ahead of second place Stuart Hayes.
Kaiser Permanente City of Los Angeles Triathlon
Los Angeles, California
September 7, 2008
S 1.5k/ B 40k/ R 10k
Results
Professional men
1. Greg Bennett (Aus) 1:46:04
2. Andy Potts (USA) 1:46:47
3. Paul Matthews (Aus) 1:48:09
4. Stuart Hayes (Gbr) 1:49:01
5. Brent McMahon (Can) 1:49:17
6. Michael Raelert (Ger) 1:50:22
7. Oliver Freeman (Gbr) 1:50:47
8. Chris Foster (USA) 1:52:10
9. Todd Leckie (Gbr) 1:53:47
10. Andrew Starykowicz (USA) 1:54:30
Professional women
1. Becky Lavelle (USA) 1:59:48
2. Mary Beth Ellis (USA) 2:01:12
3. Julie Ertel (USA) 2:03:10
4. Rebecca Wassner (USA) 2:03:44
5. Mirinda Carfrae (Aus) 2:06:50
6. Pip Taylor (Aus) 2:07:46
7. Laurel Wassner (USA) 2:14:17
