In addition to this weekend’s featured race – the XTERRA World Championship in Maui - The Weekend Box brings you tales of a 70.3 with a Miami Vice backdrop and another 70.3 in Texas Swing country, plus an action-packed clash of non-drafting heroes in Southern California.
Michael Raelert and Magali Tisseyre are back in winning form at Miami 70.3
Two stars who have gone through hard times showed they were back at the top of their games on a flat and fast course at Ironman 70.3 Miami. Michael Raelert of Germany, the two-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion who had been out of action for a little over a year with knee problems, won a race-long duel with Richie Cunningham on the run. And Magali Tisseyre of Canada, who had been fighting injuries in 2013 and the first half of 2014, blazed away from a tenacious Lauren Goss in the half marathon.
These comebacks were not flukes as Raelert’s victory followed his recent win at Ironman 70.3 Reugen and Tisseyre’s win came on the heels of her domination in the desert at Ironman 70.3 Silverman.
Men
David Kahn of the U.S. dominated the swim in 25:04, followed by Raelert (+30 seconds), Yunior Rosete (+33s), Matt Reed (+34s), Fabio Carvalho of Brazil (+37s) and race win threats Richie Cunningham (+40s) 8th and Viktor Zyemtsev (+1:18) in 10th.
At the end of the bike leg, Kahn’s 6th-best 2:03:31 split led into T2, followed closely by Raelert (+3s), Cunningham (+6s) with Taylor Reid of Canada, Zyemtsev of Ukraine, Per Bittner of Germany, Santiago Ascenco of Brazil, Markus Fachbach of Germany and Marc Duelsen of Germany (race-best 2:02:53 bike split) all about 2 and a half minutes down.
On his way to a race-best 1:12:25 run, Raelert led Cunningham by 1:05, Kahn by 1:25 and Zyemtsev by 2:58 after 3.2 miles. After 9.7 miles Raelert had erased almost all doubts as he led Cunningham by 1:55, Kahn by 2:36 and Duelsen by 4:38.
Cunningham finished 2nd – 3:27 back of Raelert – after a 1:15:59 run. Zyemtsev closed hard with a 2nd-fastest 1:15:03 run to close out the podium, 4:33 back of the winner.
Women
Amanda Stevens led the women's swim with a 26:30 split, followed by Goss (+3 seconds), Tisseyre, (+38s), Leanda Cave (+39s) with Jenny Leiser, Carla Moreno and Laurel Wassner a few seconds more in arrears.
Halfway through the bike, Tisseyre took the lead, followed closely by Stevens (+3s), Goss (+5s) with Cave about half a minute down in 4th and Wassner 3:03 back in 5th. By the end of the 56-mile bike, Goss and Stevens switched places but the gaps between 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th places remained the same.
In the first mile of the run, Goss made a charge and took a 2 seconds lead on Tisseyre. However, by Mile 3, Tisseyre took charge with a 34 seconds lead on Goss and 1:19 on Stevens while Cave settled into 4th. After her women’s-fastest 1:20:09 run, Tisseyre finished in 4:06:38 with a 3 minutes 40 seconds margin of victory over Goss, 7:19 over 3rd place finisher Stevens and 11:34 over Cave, who eased home in 1:31:04 to take 4th place.
Ironman 70.3 Miami
Miami Beach, Florida
October 26, 2014
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Michael Raelert (GER) 3:43:38
2. Richie Cunningham (AUS) 3:47:16
3. Viktor Zyemtsev (UKR) 3:48:11
4. David Kahn (USA) 3:48:18
5. Marc Duelsen (GER) 3:49:07
Women
1. Magali Tisseyre (CAN) 4:06:38
2. Lauren Goss (USA) 4:10:18
3. Amanda Stevens (USA) 4:13:57
4. Leanda Cave (GBR) 4:18:12
5. Laurel Wassner (USA) 4:20:35
Joe Maloy and Alicia Kaye win Life Time Fitness series finale in Oceanside
U.S. stars Joe Maloy and Alicia Kaye won the Life Time Fitness Series season-ending race at Oceanside and Kaye and Cameron Dye capped off Life Time Pro Series points championship titles with their respective 1st and 3rd place finishes at the classic Southern California triathlon venue Sunday.
Women
Lauren Brandon led three U.S. women in the open ocean swim with a 17:54 split, followed by Sara McLarty (18:13), Katie Hursey (18:15), Kaye (18:18) – then Paula Findlay of Canada (18:19) and two more U.S. competitors - Sarah Haskins (18:22) and Mary Beth Ellis (18:55).
Kaye, coming off a dominating season in which she placed 3rd at South Beach, 2nd at Cap Tex, then won Minneapolis, New York City and Chicago to establish an unassailable lead in the Life Time Series as well as taking 2nd at Hy-Vee 5i50, put a stranglehold on this race with a sizzling 59:33 bike split which gave her a 2:05 advantage on Haskins, 2:38 on Canadian comeback kid Paula Findlay and 3:32 on 9th place Ironman World championship finisher Mary Beth Ellis.
With that lead in hand, Kaye could afford to cruise in with a 3rd-fastest 37:25 run to finish in 1:56:50 with a 1:07 margin of victory over Findlay, who closed with a women’s-best, ITU front pack-quality 35:53 run. Haskins, a multiple Life Time Series champion, closed with a 39:44 run to take 3rd, 4:27 back of the winner. Katie Hursey, rising U.S. ITU star, unleashed a 2nd-best 36:23 run that made up for an off-form 1:05:19 bike leg and came within 11 seconds of the podium.
After her great season, Kaye’s 620 points led series runner-up Radka Vodickova of the Czech Republic (who finished 9th) by 150 points and series 3rd-place finisher Jillian Petersen (who finished 7th) by 210 points.
Kaye previously won the Lifetime Series and the Toyota Triple Crown in 2013 and placed 2nd at the Life Time Series in 2011 and 2012.
Men
Tommy Zaferes led the swim with a 16:37 leg that gave him 37 seconds lead on Cameron Dye, 38 seconds on Maloy, 40 seconds on Davide Giardini, 41 seconds on the formidable ITU World Champion and Ironman 70.3 World Champion Javier Gomez, 42 seconds on Eric Lagerstrom, 44 seconds on Life Time Series leader Ben Collins and 45 seconds on 4-time Olympian Hunter Kemper.
As expected, super-cyclist Cameron Dye took charge on the bike leg as his race-fastest 54:08 split gave him a 2:06 lead on Collins (55:20 bike split), 2:17 on Lagerstrom, 2:20 on Zaferes, 2:21 on Kemper, 2:25 on Luke McKenzie, 2:31 on Maloy and 2:33 on Gomez.
While Dye’s brave surge on the bike leg brought him a podium finish, his 33:37 run surrendered the first two places to superior runners. Maloy’s race-best 31:00 10k run erased his entire 2:31 deficit and then some - catapulting him from 7th place at T2 to the victory in 1:45:47. Hunter Kemper’s 2nd-fastest 31:25 run advanced him from 5th to 2nd place, 17 seconds back of the 9-years-his-junior winner. Dye took 3rd, 29 seconds behind Maloy. Collins, with a 4th-best 32:29 run, took 4th, 6 seconds back of Dye.
While Gomez may have not been on his best form after a long successful season -- and perhaps hindered by his throwback '80s race gear -- his rivals on the day had to take some measure of pride that the man who has won 4 ITU World titles, an Ironman 70.3 World title, an XTERRA World Championship and two Hy-Vee 5i50 crowns could only manage 7th place on the day as he closed with an only-human 33:05 run.
While his run may not have wrapped him in glory, Cam Dye did beat Ben Collins by 6 seconds which gave him the final spot on the day’s podium. More important, Dye’s 3rd place finish gave him 185 Life Time Series points – 15 more than Collins earned for his 4th place finish. Dye began the day with a 5-point deficit to Collins in the Life Time Series points chase and thus ended it with a 10 point advantage to take the championship.
Life Time Fitness Oceanside
Oceanside, California
October 26, 2014
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Results
Men
1. Joe Maloy (USA) 1:45:47
2. Hunter Kemper (USA) 1:46:04
3. Cameron Dye (USA) 1:46:16
4. Ben Collins (USA) 1:46:22
5. Tommy Zaferes (USA) 1:46:49
7. Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:47:56
Women
1. Alicia Kaye (USA) 1:56:50
2. Paula Findlay (CAN) 1:57:57
3. Sarah Haskins (USA) 2:01:17
4. Katie Hursey (USA) 2:01:28
5. Mary Beth Ellis (USA) 2:02:06
Christian Kemp and Lesley Smith rule Ironman 70.3 Austin
Christian Kemp of Australia and Lesley Smith of the U.S. won the elite titles at Ironman 70.3 Austin Sunday.
Men
Kemp, coming off a 2nd place at Silverman 70.3 on October 5, engaged in a fierce duel with U.S. star Kevin Collington through the swim and bike. The duo matched race-leading 23:46 swims and Collington edged Kemp by just 3 seconds - 2:12:14 to 2:12:17 - after the bike leg, giving them a 4:30 lead on a group that included Francisco Serrano of Mexico, Chris Leiferman of the U.S., Thomas Gerlach of the U.S., Joe Umphenour of the U.S. and Jeff Symonds of Canada.
Halfway through the run, Collington carried a 15 seconds lead on Kemp, with Serrano 3:49 down, Symonds 4:09 back and Umphenour 4:27 arrears. Whereupon Kemp turned on the jets on his way to a 3rd-fastest 1:14:58 run to finish in 3:53:35 with a 2:12 margin of victory over Collington (1:17:12 run) and 3:22 over 3rd-place finisher Serrano (race-best 1:13:54 run). Symonds closed with a 2nd-best 1:14:08 run to take 4th place, 25 seconds back of Serrano. Umphenour took 5th, 1:09 back of Symonds.
Women
Jeanni Seymour of South Africa led the women's swim with a 27:50 leg, 2 seconds ahead of Sarah Cameto of the U.S., 32 seconds ahead of Lesley Smith of the U.S., 36 seconds ahead of Ewa Komander of Poland, and 58 seconds ahead of Jennifer Luebke of the U.S.
After a 3rd-fastest bike split of 2:33:32, Seymour led into T2 with an 8 seconds margin on Smith, who posted the women's best split of 2:32:48. The two leaders thus began the run with a 3:46 advantage on Komander, 4:03 on Luebke, 4:36 on Katya Meyers of the U.S. and 4:54 on Sue Huse of Canada.
After the first mile of the run, Smith surged past Seymour into the lead and increased her lead to 51 seconds at Mile 3. After Mile 5.5 Smith led Seymour by 1:02, Huse by 5:53, Meyers by 7:52 and Cameto by 9:29.
After a second-best 1:25:18 run, Smith crossed the line in 4:29:46 with a 2:47 margin of victory on Seymour and 4:07 on Huse, who closed with a race-best 1:24:20 run.
Ironman 70.3 Austin
Austin Texas
October 26, 2014
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / T 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Christian Kemp (AUS) 3:53:35
2. Kevin Collington (USA) 3:55:47
3. Francisco Serrano (MEX) 3:56:57
4. Jeff Symonds (CAN) 3:57:22
5. Joe Umphenour (USA) 3:58:31
Women
1. Lesley Smith (USA) 4:29:46
2. Jeanni Seymour (RSA) 4:32:33
3. Sue Huse (CAN) 4:33:53
4. Sara Cameto (USA) 4:39:23
5. Katya Meyers (USA) 4:39:48
A quarter century after an 8-ton truck left him a paraplegic, John Maclean walks
The most remarkable athletic performance of this weekend was 25 years in the making.
John Maclean was the picture of rugged health - a rugby league player in Australia - when he was hit by an 8-ton truck on a Sydney highway and suffered a broken back, a pelvis broken in four places, broken ribs, shattered arms and punctured lung -- and was left a paraplegic in 1988.
Funny thing, he was training for his first triathlon in nearby Penrith when he was struck down - but never counted out.
In the face of this catastrophe, his physical strength was nothing compared to his heart, will and mind in his refusal to accept limits and boundaries.
In the following years, Maclean embraced the most demanding sporting challenges – many with the tools of physically challenged athletes - racing wheelchairs and arm-powered cycles. He swam the English Channel. He became the first physically challenged athlete to complete the Ironman World Championship in Kona in regulation time. He won world rowing medals. He tackled the Ultraman but found that its 15,000 feet of climbing was a bit too much for an official finish.
Through all of his rehabs and therapies, Maclean never quite buried a dream that one day he would walk again – but his rational self did not allow him to believe that was possible.
That spark remained a dream until a chance meeting with fellow Australian – 2012 Ironman World Champion Pete Jacobs – who suggested he see trainer Ken Ware, who helped Jacobs treat his own injury. Maclean took some encouragement from his wife Amanda, then began a radical new treatment called Ware K Tremor Therapy which involved shaking him vigorously -- aimed at recalibration of his nervous system. Ware, Maclean told The Guardian newspaper, “believes it can unlock the nervous system to access things it wouldn’t do before.”
Through a grueling process of physical rehabilitation – something Maclean was uniquely suited for – he slowly worked up to taking a few steps out of his chair. Next came picking up his young son and holding him without support.
This Sunday, Maclean’s goal of finishing the Nepean Triathlon on his own two feet came full circle. Maclean finished the 1 kilometer swim, 30 kilometer bike and 10 kilometer run without his wheelchair and propelling himself with carbon fiber leg braces and walking poles. Maclean walked the last few meters without the walking poles. “This is the hardest thing I have ever done,” Maclean told the legendary sports journalist Amanda Lulham of the Daily Telegraph.
“I still see myself as John Maclean, aspiring athlete,” the 48-year old told The Guardian.
