Lisa Norden of Sweden stalked American Sarah Haskins through 9 kilometers of the run then put in a late kick to take the $151,500 top prize at the elite women’s Hy-Vee 5150 championship in a time of 1:58:53 before large crowds in Des Moines.

“I’ve had a really crappy season this year with injuries, so I am very, very happy with my race at Hy-Vee!” said Norden to Hy-Vee announcers after the race. In fact, Norden had to stop running for six weeks this spring with a tendon inflammation in her foot and just one month ago hobbled to a 34th place finish at the World Championship Series race in London.

Putting up the flag for the Ironman crowd in short course racing, Kona champion Mirinda Carfrae blitzed from 1:58 down starting the run to second place at the flag, just 7 seconds back of the win. “I didn’t have any high expectations coming into this race,” said Carfrae. “So I was very surprised to see I was coming close to Lisa (Norden) and Sarah (Haskins) at the finish. I guess I carried the flag for Ironman athletes today.”

On a day where strong river currents eliminated many otherwise top contenders on the swim, and a grinding uphill on Grand Street and tough wind scattered many on the bike, Sarah Haskins showed she, too, is a great all-around time trial triathlete by taking three lap primes on the bike and three primes on the run before fading to 3rd in the stretch, just 16 seconds out of victory.

For her front running bravery, Haskins took home an extra $30,900 in lap prime awards to go with her $50,000 third place check, thus out-earning Carfrae’s $75,000 check for second place.

Nikki Butterfield of Australia, who is leading the 5150 series, showed her professional bike racing lineage by advancing from 26th place and 3:21 down after the swim to lead Haskins by 11 seconds at T2. Butterfield then bravely held on for a 4th place finish in this international field with a more then decent run to take 4th place, 10 seconds back of Haskins.

Laura Bennett, who took the very first $200,000 women’s winner’s check at Hy-Vee in 2007, was a 5th, 11 seconds behind Butterfield.

Gwen Jorgensen, a pre race co-favorite, faded to 20th place and 5:10 back after the bike, but advanced to 9th place, 4:28 down at the finish with a race-best 36:15 run – 13 seconds better than Mirinda Carfrae’s second-best 36:28 10k run.

Sara McLarty led the swim with a magnificent 16:45 and this took three $5,150 laps primes to go with her $5,500 check for her 19th place finish.

Nikki Butterfield not only set the fastest bike with her 59:28 split, she won $5,150 for the 4th lap prime to go with $25,000 for her 4th place finish.

Hy-Vee 5150 Elite Women
Des Moines, Iowa
September 4, 2011
S 1.5k / B 40k/ R 10k

Results

1. Lisa Norden (SWE) 1:58:53 - $151,500
2. Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 1:59:00 - $75,000
3. Sarah Haskins (USA) 1:59:09 - $50,000 plus $30,900 for bike and run lap primes
4. Nikki Butterfield (AUS) 1:59:19 - $25,000 plus $5,150 for one bike prime
5. Laura Bennett (USA) 1:59:30 - $20,000
6. Nicola Spirig (SUI) 1:59:49 - $18,000
7. Sarah Groff (USA) 2:01:33 - $16,000
8. Liz Blatchford (GBR) 2:01:47 - $14,000
9. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 2:03:21 - $12,000
10. Annie Warner (USA) 2:04:11 - $10,000