While Javier Gomez and Jodie Stimpson got separate stories for their triumphs in WTS Cape Town, there were three other major races around the globe. Six months ago, Camilla Pedersen was in a deep coma after a bicycle crash – on Saturday she dominated the Challenge women’s field in the Canary Islands. Nine months ago, Sarah Haskins was giving birth to daughter Caroline – on Sunday Sarah was on Florida's Gulf Coast winning her fourth straight race. And six months ago, Bermuda’s Flora Duffy was a long shot podium finisher at XTERRA Maui. On Saturday she won a big new XTERRA race in Australia. Plus fans are sometimes super entertaining.
Dan Hugo and Flora Duffy win XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championship in Australia
Dan Hugo of South Africa and Flora Duffy of Bermuda won the inaugural XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championship on a tough course at Callala Bay in New South Wales, Australia.
The XTERRA organization pulled out all the stops introducing the circuit’s second major, next in significance to the World Championship in Maui, replete with a $50,000 pro purse, two internationally distributed TV shows and a stacked field of ITU Olympic stars plus the best XTERRA World Tour regulars.
Two-time Olympian Courtney Atkinson of Australia, took a minute lead in the swim, then gave it up at the first of several obstacles that took their toll on the talented field. “Straight in, first mudhole, I got the first big crash done,” said Atkinson. “I thought I’d be able to hold a lead, but it seems that the fire tracks are as hard as the single track here.”
Dan Hugo, Ben Allen and Roger Serrano quickly joined Atkinson. Then Hugo picked a quicker line through the next mud section and vaulted into a clear lead. By T2, Hugo had 3 minutes on Conrad Stoltz, Serrano and Allen and 6 minutes on Braden Currie, fellow South African Bradley Weiss and Atkinson. Sadly, 4-time World Champion Conrad Stoltz was suffering from a wicked lingering cold and quit before heading out on the run. “I'm super disappointed I couldn’t put in a proper performance, because I would love to do this race justice,” said Stoltz. “It’s a big race, has a TV show, big money and just look at how the top Aussies crawled out of the woodwork - it’s good for the sport. But you can’t race at this level when you’re not 100 percent.”
Hugo held on for the win in 2:19:01, but Atkinson sliced through the rest of the field with the fastest run of the day – 2:12 better than Hugo - to take second, 3:48 back of the winner.
“When I heard I was 6 minutes down, I didn’t think I could bridge that no matter how well I ran,” said Atkinson. “But I heard that Benny [Allen] was two minutes up and I thought about winning the XTERRA Australia title and pushed.”
Braden Currie of New Zealand , who finished 5th at XTERRA Worlds last year, stayed with Atkinson for about 8k, but finally surrendered and settled for 3rd, 57 seconds behind Atkinson.
Hugo, who has won 4 XTERRA races this year, was happy to win the biggest race of his career. “Great to win a championship today, probably my first of this stature,” said the 28-year-old from Stellenbosch. “It’s been a while coming.” Hugo placed second at XTERRA Worlds in 2011 – and had a storing of seven straight runner-up finishes on the XTERRA World circuit last year. “I grew up knowing Australia as the pinnacle of triathlon, where all the legends are from, so to win my first race here is special.”
In the women’s race, Bermuda Olympian Flora Duffy continued to improve on her rapidly advancing XTERRA skills and gained a measure of revenge on 2013 XTERRA World Champion Nicky Samuels. While Samuels took the win and Duffy struggled to hold on to 3rd place at Maui, on this day the Bermudian ruled.
Samuels was first woman and second overall including the men in the swim – but just 2 seconds ahead of Duffy. Duffy, coming off a win at XTERRA South Africa and decisive win at the XTERRA West Championship in Las Vegas, was on fire and posted the fastest mountain bike split of 1:22:28 – 3:46 better than Samuels. Duffy’s 50:24 fastest run split – 3:25 better than Samuels – brought her to the finish in 2:33:07 with a 7 minutes margin of victory over Samuels and 11:22 over 3rd-place finisher Jacqui Slack.
Samuels was 4 minutes back at T2, but coming off a cold she didn’t have the strength to make a move. “Having been sick for a week, to finish second is a great result,” said Samuels. “I’m not so good on the single track and this race was a bit technical through the bush and over trees.”
“I couldn’t have done much better,” said Slack. “It’s great to have such talent in the field – it keeps the drive going to get faster and stronger.”
The winner loved the course. “Growing up in Bermuda, I’m kind of a beach snob,” said Duffy. “So it takes a lot for beach to impress me and I can tell you it is gorgeous here. That white sand and water is beautiful. I really enjoyed the swim and seeing kangaroos.”
XTERRA Asia Pacific Championship
Jervis Bay, NSW Australia
April 26, 2014
S 1.5k / B 30k / R 11k
Results
Men
1. Dan Hugo (RSA) 2:19:01
2. Courtney Atkinson (AUS) 2:22:49
3. Braden Currie (NZL) 2:23:46
4. Bradley Weiss (RSA) 2:24:09
5. Ben Allen (AUS) 2:25:35
Women
1. Flora Duffy (BER) 2:33:07
2. Nicky Samuels (NXL) 2:40:07
3. Jacqui Slack (GBR) 2:44:29
4. Carina Wasle (AUT) 2:46:58
5. Renata Bucher (SUI) 2:51:19
Camilla Pedersen wins Challenge Fuerteventura in remarkable comeback
Camilla Pedersen of Denmark won her first race back after a near-fatal bike crash last September left her in a coma for weeks, taking the honors at the half distance Challenge Fuerteventura by six minutes over Eimear Mullan of Ireland. In the men’s race, Andreas Dreitz of Germany used a race-best bike split and run to edge Sylvain Sudrie of France by 1 minute and 33 seconds.
Pedersen showed that the drive and talent she displayed in her rise to the top at the Ironman distance, highlighted by a win at Ironman Europe last summer in a time of 8:56:01, was still there. Pedersen led from the start with a 25:42 swim and established an insurmountable margin with a race-best 2:36:39 bike split. With all that lead in the bank, Pedersen cruised home with a 1:27:30 run to finish in 4:30:13. Pedersen’s run surrendered 7 minutes to the flying feet of Eimear Mullan, but the Irish long course star fell 5 minutes 55 seconds short of the irrepressible Dane’s comeback. Daniela Sämmler of Germany finished 3rd, 48 seconds behind Mullan.
Pedersen answered the cheering crowds with two heartfelt words: "I'm back!"
In the men’s race, defending champion Jens Toft of Denmark led the swim well ahead of Dreitz’s 14th place effort. But once Dreitz started rolling on the bike, all resistance failed. Dreitz posted a day’s best 2:19:42 bike split, then polished off the race with a race-best 1:16:43 run that brought him to the line in 4:01:47 with a 1:33 margin of victory over 2-time ITU long distance world champion Sylvain Sudrie of France. Sudrie held off a strong challenge on the run by Horst Reichel of Germany, who finished 3rd, 19 seconds back of the Frenchman.
Formula One former World Champion driver Jenson Button was the most famous competitor on the day, drawing many fans to the beautiful resort in the Canary Islands. The world class driver performed a pro-quality swim and a credible bike split, but the amateur triathlete withdrew with muscle pains on the run.
Challenge Fuerteventura
Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain
April 26, 2014
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Andreas Dreitz (GER) 4:01:47
2. Sylvain Sudrie (FRA) 4:03:21
3. Horst Reichel (GER) 4:03:50
Women
1. Camilla Pedersen (DEN) 4:30:13
2. Eimear Mullan (IRL) 4:36:08
3. Daniela Sämmler (GER) 4:36:56
Ruedi Wild and Sarah Haskins win St. Anthony’s Triathlon
Ruedi Wild of Switzerland and Sarah Haskins of the United States won the men's and women's elite titles and the lion’s share of the $65,000 prize purse at the 31st edition of the classic St. Anthony's Triathlon.
Wild combined a 19th-best 19:33 swim, a 3rd best 53:58 bike split and a 2nd-fastest 31:41 run to finish in 1:46:46 with a 23-seconds margin of victory over runner-up Brad Kahlefeldt of Australia and 33 seconds ahead of 4-time Olympian Hunter Kemper of the U.S. Wild improved 11 places over his 2013 St. Anthony’s finish, while Kemper duplicated his 2013 St. Anthony’s 3rd place finish.
Wild’s time was just seconds off the men's course record. "On the run, I was quite confident so I didn’t push too hard at the beginning and saved some energy," said Wild. "I never gave up, I stayed positive."
Against a very strong international field, 21-year-old Colorado University student Rodolphe von Berg finished 4th and ahead of many established international stars. Von Berg, who won the USA Triathlon Collegiate Nationals men’s overall individual title earlier this month, posted the 5th-best 32:38 run on his way to a 1:47:38 finish, 19 seconds behind Kemper.
Kaleb Van Ort had the fastest run – 30:57 – on his way to a 6th place finish. Cameron Dye, who finished 3rd at this race in 2011, had the fastest bike split of 53:10 on his way to a 7th place finish.
Sarah Haskins earned her 5th St. Anthony’s crown with a well balanced attack that outpaced runner-up Helle Frederiksen of Denmark by 22 seconds and 3rd place finisher Radka Vodickova of the Czech Republic by 33 seconds. Haskins’ 19:49 swim trailed only fellow Clermont, Florida resident Sara McLarty by 5 seconds and Lauren Brandon by 3 seconds and outpaced overall rivals Frederiksen, Vodickova and Alicia Kaye by just over 30 seconds.
Kaye uncorked a race-best 58:43 bike split which brought her to T2 just 1 second in front of Haskins, whose 2nd-best 59:23 bike split passed all the others. By the end of the second transition, Haskins edged in front of Kaye, the defending St. Anthony’s champion, and never looked back. Haskins’ 3rd-best 35:55 run surrendered 37 seconds to Frederiksen and 39 seconds to Vodickova, but the time she had banked on the swim and bike legs was enough to bring her to the finish with a comfortable lead.
Haskins, the 2008 ITU World championship silver medalist and 2011 Pan American Games gold medalist, won her fourth straight victory after returning to competition after the birth of her daughter Caroline 8 months ago.
“I was really going out for the win and to do my best,” said Haskins, whose 1:56:44 time beat her 2012 course record by 11 seconds. “Racing and having a family brings so much balance. It centers me. I love being a mom – it’s my favorite job. And I love racing. I love it that I get to do both.”
Frederiksen said that she worked hard to stay in sight of Haskins but could never quite close the gap. “This race made me work super hard,” said the Danish star. “It was one of those days where I didn’t actually find any flow or a good sensation in the swim or the bike. However, I felt really good at the start of the run, as if the race had just started for me. I chased very hard and am pleased to come away with second.”
Two-time Ironman World Champion Mirinda Carfrae finished in 7th place, 6:55 behind Haskins.
St. Anthony’s Triathlon
St. Petersburg, Florida
April 27, 2014
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Results
Elite men
1. Ruedi Wild (SUI) 1:46:46
2. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 1:47:09
3. Hunter Kemper (USA) 1:47:19
4. Rodolphe Von Berg (USA) 1:47:38
5. Timothy O’Donnell (USA) 1:47:52
Elite Women
1. Sarah Haskins (USA) 1:56:44
2. Helle Frederiksen (DEN) 1:57:06
3. Radka Vodickova (CZE) 1:59:17
4. Alicia Kaye (USA) 2:00:18
5. Sara McLarty (USA) 2:03:00
Fan support for Mirinda Carfrae and other racers
Athletes who are racing hard don't always see all the signs and gestures of fans along the course, but we are pretty sure that Mirinda Carfrae noticed these fans at St. Anthony's Triathlon today. And likely many other racers could not get them out of their mind either.
