Five-time Ironman winner Jordan Rapp won his second straight title and Christine Anderson took her first win at the Leadman Epic 250 which moved from Las Vegas to a gentler course in Bend, Oregon this year.
The Men
Rapp combined a 3rd-best 53:00 5k swim, a race-fastest 5:43:44 split for the 138-mile bike and a race-best 1:26:14 split for the 13-mile run to finish in 8:08:52 with an 8:05 margin of victory over runner-up Mathias Hecht of Switzerland and 19:26 over 3rd-place finisher Thomas Gerlach of Madison, Wisconsin.
Hecht emerged first from the shorter-than-advertised-5k swim in 50:30, trailed by Matt Lieto (52:57), Rapp (53:00), Thomas Gerlach (55:18) and Karl Bordine (56:13).
After taking a lengthy 4:36 transition to put on leg and arm warmers which gave away 2:19 to Hecht, Rapp spent the first 90 minutes in the mid 30s temperature ride warming up. By Mile 112, he had Hecht in sight as they approached the long climb above Sparks Lake.
“Nearing the end of the ride I was chipping into Mathias’ lead a bit,” said Rapp. “There was one definitive climb near Sparks Lake and I felt like I could take the lead, about 110-120 miles into the 138 mile ride. I think Mathias is used to the Ironman distance and I had more left for the final 26 miles. I passed him there and put a couple minutes on him in those last few miles. The final section was a 20 mile downhill and Mathias and I both ran out of gears. I think I was just a little bit more aero –I hit 60 miles per hour in that stretch.”
Rapp had 2 minutes on Hecht at T2 and believed he could hold. “I was pretty confident I just needed to do what I can do to so he would not catch me on the run,” said Rapp. “I think I do run a bit better than he does.”
Sure enough, Rapp added 5 minutes to his lead on Hecht during the run and cruised to the win.
The Women
Boulder, Colorado triathletes led the swim -- Kristen Peterson posted a 54:42 and Christine Anderson a 56:02, followed by Mackenzie Madison (59:49), Haley Cooper-Scott (1:04:17) and Trish Deim (1:07:15).
Peterson maintained her lead with a women’s third-fastest 6:44:53 bike split, followed 4 minutes later by to T2 by Madison (6:45:28 bike split), 6 minutes later by Anderson (6:50:56 bike split), and about 9 minutes back were Cooper-Scott (6:43:36 bike split) and Deim (race-best 6:40:09 bike split).
Anderson took control of the race with her race-fastest 1:39:32 run which was 2 minutes better than Cooper-Scott, 5 minutes better than Deim, 14 minutes quicker than Peterson and 15 better than an obviously struggling Madison.
At the finish, Anderson’s well-balanced 9:30:26 overall time was 3:37 better than runner-up Cooper-Scott, 5:48 better than 3rd-place Deim, 6:25 better than Peterson and 14:33 faster than 5th place Madison.
Course evaluation
The Leadman Epic 250 established itself last year as a legendary test for extraordinary people. But this course change has retained the challenge while making it a little more friendly to mere mortals. Jordan Rapp, who was one of perhaps two men who expressed interest in returning to the hellish torture chamber at Las Vegas, described the ameliorating differences this way: “You can’t really compare the courses,” said Rapp. “This year I went 8:08 and last year I went 9:38. This race had 6,000 to 7,000 feet of climbing on the bike course, last year it was 11,000. This year we started out biking in mid 30s temperatures and it warmed up a little. In Las Vegas it was 105 and the wind blew hard. Here there were some hills and it was not an easy run. In Las Vegas, the run had 1,700 feet of climbing. This was a hard course, but Las Vegas appealed to people with a screw loose. Ultimately, this course will appeal to a lot of people who want to come back for the challenge.”
Leadman Tri – Epic 250
Bend, Oregon
September 22, 2012
S 3.1 mi. / B 138 mi. / R 13 mi.
Preliminary Results
Pro Men
1. Jordan Rapp (USA) 8:08:52
2. Mathias Hecht (SUI) 8:16:57
3. Thomas Gerlach (USA) 8:28:16
4. Matt Lieto (USA) 8:32:57
5. Karl Bordine (USA) 8:35:00
Pro Women
1. Christine Anderson (USA) 9:30:26
2. Haley Cooper-Scott (USA) 9:34:03
3. Trish Deim (USA) 9:36:14
4. Kristen Peterson (USA) 9:36:51
5. Mackenzie Madison (USA) 9:44:59
