Hunter Kemper recorded his 7th USAT Elite Nationals title today with a win at the 2011 Buffalo ITU Pan American Cup in Buffalo, NY. For the defending women's champion Laura Bennett it was the third title.

Dustin McLarty and Jon Bird had led the men out of the waters of Lake Eerie, but the 2 leaders were soon after caught be a group of 5 led by Kemper.

The leading 7 then pulled away from the chasing main pack and by the time they reached the bike-run transition they had more than a minute advantage.

From there Kemper ran to his 7th Elite National title and his first since 2006.

"It feels good to have seven," said Kemper. "It's kind of special - the fact that I've overcome a lot and gotten through a lot in the past couple years."

Ritchie Nicholls from the UK finished second and Kaleb VanOrt rounded out the podium. 6th placed Greg Billington snagged the Under-23 title after having finished 4th at the ITU U23 World Championships in Beijing 14 days ago.

Laura Bennett battled 2011 ITU Dextro Energy World Championship Series winner Helen Jenkins throughout the race, but managed to pull away from the speedy Brit late in the run to take the win and defend her title from 2010.

Jenkins finished in 2nd place 7 seconds later and Gwen Jorgensen finished 3rd despite crashing on the bike. 5th place Kaitlin Shiver grabbed the women's Under-23 title and she too had finished 4th at the U23 Worlds in Beijing.


2011 Buffalo ITU Pan American Cup
Buffalo, NY / September 24
1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run

Top men

1. Hunter Kemper (Colorado Springs, CO) 1:48:24 *
2. Ritchie Nicholls (GBR) 1:49:05
3. Kaleb VanOrt (Mishawaka, IN) 1:49:17
4. Andrew Yorke (CAN) 1:49:26
5. Jarrod Shoemaker (Maynard, MA) 1:50:45
6. Greg Billington (Colorado Springs, CO) 1:50:55 **
7. Bryce McMaster (AUS) 1:51:01
8. Steve Sexton (Pilot Hill, CA) 1:51:13
9. Marc Jenkins (GBR) 1:51:15
10. Brian Fleischmann (Colorado Springs, CO) 1:51:25

Top women

1. Laura Bennett (Boulder, CO) 1:59:37 *
2. Helen Jenkins (GBR) 1:59:44
3. Gwen Jorgensen (Milwaukee, WI) 2:03:50
4. Charlotte McShane (AUS) 2:04:14
5. Kaitlin Shiver (Satellite Beach, FL) 2:05:12 **
6. Jenna Parker (Santa Monica, CA) 2:05:58
7. Amanda Felder (Cupertino, CA) 2:06:36
8. Jessica Broderick (Middlebury, CT) 2:06:53
9. Jennifer Spieldenner (Findlay, OH) 2:07:33
10. Manon Letourneau (CAN) 2:08:05

* US National Elite Champion
** US U23 Champion