South African Richard Murray very often scores race-best runs on the WTS circuit. But because he often loses the front pack after a substandard swim, Murray had not won a World Triathlon Series event since Hamburg in 2012.

That all changed Sunday at Edmonton as Murray placed 22nd on the swim but only 22 seconds back at Hawrelak Park. That still might not have done the trick, but rain-slick streets turned the pack leaders a bit conservative. So Murray and 20 other men made the front pack after the first lap of the bike leg. When the 4-lap, 20 kilometer bike leg was over, the front pack numbered 43, and Murray stood 7th - in the catbird’s seat, 6 seconds behind bike leader Richard Varga and just 1 second behind 4-time ITU World Champion Javier Gomez.

While Murray was resting last weekend, Gomez was competing and finishing 3rd at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship on a rugged and hilly course designed to suck all the energy out of an athletic body. Gomez told media that he had little hope of a win, and was treating this event like a training run, but the Spaniard had plenty left in the tank. So Gomez and Murray took off on the run and led the field after lap 1 of 3 with Aaron Royle, Wian Sullwald, and dangerous Spanish runners Mario Mola and Vicente Hernandez close behind.

By the end of the 2nd lap, Murray and Gomez broke out to an 8 seconds lead on Mola, 10 seconds on Royle, 11 seconds on Sullwald, and 16 seconds on Hernandez. Halfway through the 3rd and final run lap, Murray broke the string on Gomez, taking a 15 meters lead and breaking any ambitions Mola might have had for the win, leaving him 15 seconds back.

After a race-best 15:10 5k run, Murray crossed the line in 53:19 with a 4 seconds margin on Gomez (15:15 run) and 15 seconds on Mola (15:21 run).

“This was the coldest day ever,” said Murray. “Javi was hanging on the whole time and I really had to give it everything.”

Gomez is in the middle of a drive to be the first man to win five ITU Olympic distance World Championships, so he was happy that was able to toss out the lowest of his five WTS points-earning races and replace it with a runner-up finish. Displaying his overall strength with a third straight podium finish in three weeks at the international level, Gomez was pleased with his form in the cold. “I couldn’t feel my feet for the first two run laps,” said Gomez. “I tried to hang on with Richard [Murray]. Maybe I wasn't confident enough to beat him in the end, but after racing so much, it’s a good result.”

Mola, slender as a whippet, was shivering for several minutes after the finish. “It’s been the toughest hour of my life,” said Mola. “I kept thinking it wasn't going to end. It was good for me with third. It was important for me to get a good result here to be able to fight for the World Championship in Chicago. Javi isn’t going to make it easy for me.”

Right now Mola is second in WTS season points, 225 behind Gomez’s leading total of 3820.

WTS Edmonton
Edmonton, Canada
September 6, 2015
S 750m / B 20k / R 5k

Results

Men

1. Richard Murray (RSA) 53:19
2. Javier Gomez (ESP) 53:23
3. Mario Mola (ESP) 53:34
4. Vincent Luis (FRA) 53:39
5. Aaron Royle (AUS) 53:40
6. Wian Sullwald (RSA) 53:43
7. Vicente Hernandez (ESP) 53:48
8. Andrew Yorke (CAN) 53:49
9. Rodrigo Gonzalez (MEX) 53:50
10. Alexander Bryukhankov (RUS) 53:55
17. Eric Lagerstrom (USA) 54:17
20. Kevin McDowell (USA) 54:23
44. Alex Libin (USA) 55:36
47. Sean Jefferson (USA) 55:47
48. Joe Maloy (USA) 56:02