This week we cover triathlons and endurance contests in Saipan, Zurich, Brasilia, Nelson Mandela Bay, Tempe, Miami and Galveston.

Rodolphe von Berg and Elizabeth Noey win Collegiate National Individual titles

Rudy Von Berg of Colorado won the men’s individual crown and Liz Noey of UCLA won the women’s title at the USA Triathlon Collegiate Nationals Olympic distance non-drafting races Saturday in Tempe, Arizona.

Von Berg, who was 4th at this event last year, finished in 1:44:41 with a winning margin of 1:24 over runner-up William Jones of UC San Diego and 1:27 over 3rd-place finisher Steve Mantell of Colorado State. Von Berg emerged from the swim in 18:19 in approximately 10th place and about 50 seconds behind the swim leaders. He charged toward the front with a 4th-best 51:29 bike split for the 36 kilometer course, then topped off his race with a 33:12 10k run split which was among the best on the day.

“I really improved a good amount from last year,” said Von Berg. “This year I trained a lot and improved my swim and my run and I thought I could win.”

Noey started her day with a 22:33 swim, which put her 4:30 back of her podium rival and UCLA teammate Laurence Delisle, and 1:35 back of Cal Berkeley’s Erika Erickson. Noey started to climb back to the front with a 56:56 bike split that took back 1:07 from Delisle and 1:55 from Erickson. Ultimately, Noey won it with her 37:17 run which was 3:33 better than Delisle’s and 1:08 better than Erickson’s. Noey passed her teammate in the final mile of the run to cross the line in 1:59:08 with a winning margin of 1:13. Belisle held off Erickson’s late charge by 3 seconds to earn the runner-up position.

“A year ago I broke my collarbone and since then I’ve been working really, really hard on my swim,” said Noey, who ran cross country as an undergraduate. “That was really the wild card today.”

Von Berg led Colorado to its 5th straight overall team title and to the men’s team title. Noey led UCLA to second place in the combined men’s and women’s team standings and to a win in the women’s team competition.

USAT Olympic Distance Individual Collegiate Nationals
Tempe, Arizona
April 5, 2014
S 1.5k / B 36k / R 10k

Results

Men’s Individual Overall

1. Rodolphe von Berg (Colorado) 1:44:41
2. William Jones (UC San Diego) 1:46:05
3. Steve Mantell (Colorado State) 1:46:08
4. Justin Metzler (Oakton) 1:47:16
5. Ian Boggs (Indiana) 1:47:29

Women’s Individual Overall

1. Elizabeth Noey (UCLA) 1:59:08
2. Laurence Delisle (UCLA) 2:00:21
3. Erika Erickson (UC Berkeley) 2:00:24
4. Lauryn Macfawn (Virginia Tech) 2:02:38
5. Lindsey Ryder (Arizona State) 2:03:05

Ian Boggs and Taylor Spivey win Draft-Legal Collegiate Championships

Ian Boggs of Indiana University and Taylor Spivey of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo won the men’s and women’s individual titles at the USA Triathlon Collegiate Nationals sprint distance Draft-Legal triathlon Friday in Tempe, Arizona.

Boggs, an NCAA Division 1 collegiate swimmer, finished the sprint distance race in 55 minutes and 6 seconds with a 6 seconds margin of victory over runner-up Dylan Morgan of the U.S. Military Academy and 14 seconds over third-place finisher Steve Mantell of Colorado State.

Morgan, whose 10:35 swim left him 69 seconds back of Boggs and whose 28:43 bike split only gained back 7 seconds on the leader, launched a race-best 14:44 run that vaulted him past everyone else but left him 6 seconds short of Boggs and the victory. Mantell, who posted the day’s second-best 14:51 run split, finished 3rd, 8 seconds behind Morgan.

Taylor Spivey, an NCAA swimmer for Cal Poly, won the women’s draft-legal nationals in the water, as her 9:40 split for the 750-meter swim was the only one under 10 minutes in the women’s race – and it was 30 seconds better than the fastest of three women under 11 minutes. More to the point, she was 1:33 better than Erika Erickson of UC Berkeley, who would be her strongest challenger on the day.

Spivey maintained her lead while riding the entire 20 kilometer bike leg on her own. Spivey’s 32:49 split gave back 49 seconds to Kelly Kosmo of UCLA, but still retained a minute lead on all her chasers who had the benefit of a draft.

Erickson made a surge with a race-best 17:08 run, but Spivey’s 2nd-best 17:50 split brought her to the finish first in 1:01:31 with a 17-seconds margin of victory over Erickson and 1:17 over Kosmo, who finished 3rd.

USAT Overall Draft Legal Collegiate Championships
April 4, 2014
S 750m / B 20k / R 5k

Results

Men

1. Ian Boggs (Indiana) 55:06
2. Dylan Morgan (Army) 55:12
3. Steve Mantell (Colorado State) 55:20
4. Andrew Nielsen (Wisconsin) 55:38
5. Eurik Ravnan (Stanford) 55:45

Women

1. Taylor Spivey (Cal Poly) 1:01:31
2. Erika Erickson (UC Berkeley) 1:01:48
3. Kelly Kosmo (UCLA) 1:02:48
4. Jessica Clay (Army) 1:04:37
5. Gina Horath (UC San Diego) 1:04:57

Men’s Combined (Draft legal and Olympic distance)

1. Ian Boggs (Indiana) 596
2. Steve Mantell (Colorado State) 594
3. Dylan Morgan (West Point) 588

Women’s Combined (Draft legal and Olympic distance)

1. Erika Erickson (Cal Berkeley) 596
2. Kelly Kosmo (UCLA) 586
3. Allison Nuovo (Ohio State) 581

Team Standings

Overall Team Standings (Men and Women combined)

1. Colorado 4.028
2. UCLA 4,007
3. Cal Berkeley 3,878
4. West Point 3,878 (tie breaker)
5. U.S. Naval Academy 3,783

Women’s Team Standings

1. UCLA 2,073
2. Colorado 2,025
3. Arizona 1,953
4. West Point 1,931
5. UC San Diego 1,922

Men’s Team Standings

1. Colorado 2,003
2. Cal Berkeley 1,972
3. U.S. Naval Academy 1,960
4. West Point 1,947
5. UCLA 1,934

Mixed Team Relays -- April 6

1. Cal Berkeley 1:10:32
2. Cal Poly 1:11:26
3. Arizona State 1:11:43

Armed Services Team Champions: West Point

Team Spirit Award: UC Santa Barbara

Ben Allen and Carina Wasle win the 13th XTERRA Saipan Championship

Australian Ben Allen won his 3rd-straight XTERRA Saipan title, his second XTERRA win in a row one week after his XTERRA Australia championship, and his 14th XTERRA World Tour win in his career with a dominating performance Saturday in the South Pacific. Carina Wasle of Austria edged Jacqui Slack of Great Britain to win her first XTERRA World Tour major since 2011 and her first ever after four years of trying on the XTERRA Asia Pacific Tour.

Pro Men

“Never gets any easier, that's for sure,” said Allen, who topped runner-up Dan Hugo of South Africa by 4 minutes 32 seconds on a beautiful sunny day in the Northern Marianas. “Dan and I broke away from the main pack in the swim and then went back and forth on the bike almost the whole way.” In fact, Allen emerged from the swim with a 15 seconds lead on Hugo, then added a mere 6 seconds with a race-best 1:22:20 bike split. “Dan was right on my wheel and really pushing the whole way,” said Allen. “He had me covered,” said Hugo. “I might have got 10 seconds on him and him and was hoping to build on that, but he was superb in the technical stuff. I took a bad line once and that 10 seconds lead turned into 10 seconds down. I enjoyed the duel. It was a fair fight, a great tussle.”

Allen took a 20 seconds lead out of T2 and put the hammer down,” said Allen. “I went well beyond my limitations up the initial climbs trying to put time on Dan.” It worked and Allen’s race-best 50:35 run split brought him to the finish in 2:34:29 with a handsome lead over Hugo. Bradley Weiss trailed fellow South African Hugo by 5:10 to take 3rd place.

Pro Women

Defending XTERRA Saipan women’s champion Jacqui Slack took the lead with a 24:18 swim, 25 seconds ahead of Mieko Carey of Japan, with Bucher 1:18 back and Wasle 2:05 arrears. Seven-time XTERRA Saipan champion Bucher blasted into the lead on the bike with a women’s-fastest 1:38:54 bike split that gained her a 47-seconds lead on Wasle and 2-plus minutes on Slack, who faded back with a 1:42:36 bike split.

Bucher’s T2 lead wasn’t enough to ward off Wasle, who crushed the run that brought her to the finish in 3:06:31 with a 1:10 margin of victory over Bucher. Slack, nursing injuries, cruised to the finish with a 1:03:50 run which gave her 3rd place.

“I'm so very happy,” said the diminutive Wasle. “The last two races Renata outsprinted me to the finish. I lost in the last 50 meters in the Philippines, then missed an arrow and got lost in Guam, so it’s very special to win.”

XTERRA Saipan Championship
Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands
April 5, 2014
S 1.5 k / B 30k / R 12k

Men

1. Ben Allen (AUS) 2:34:29
2. Dan Hugo (RSA) 2:39:01
3. Brad Weiss (RSA) 2:44:11
4. Olly Shaw (NZL) 2:45:54
5. Olivier Marceau (SUI) 2:49:48

Women

1. Carina Wasle (AUT) 3:06:31
2. Renata Bucher (SUI) 3:07:41
3. Jacqui Slack (GBR) 3:12:21
4. Mieko Carey (JPN) 3:16:32
5. Yasuko Miyazaki (JPN) 4:08:42

Nicola Spirig runs a swift time at the Zurich Marathon

Nicola Spirig, the 2012 Olympic Triathlon women’s gold medalist, finished 7th overall woman in a time of 2:42:54 at the Zurich Marathon Sunday. This was Spirig’s first marathon and she finished 8:49 behind overall women’s winner Mona Stockhecke of Germany. Magali di Marco, the 2000 Olympic Triathlon bronze medal winner, was close behind Spirig and finished 9th overall woman in a time of 2:43:59.

Mirinda Carfrae, Tim Don win Ironman 70.3 Brazil

The Don won the battle of the Tims and Ironman World Champion Mirinda Carfrae outpaced young Brazilian challenger Carol Furriela to win the men’s and women’s titles at Ironman 70.3 Brazil.

Tim Don and Tim O’Donnell came out of the swim, held in Brazil’s capital distinguished by the fabled architecture of Oscar Niemeyer, virtually tied for the lead with splits of 24:13 and 24:10 respectively. Throughout the 56-mile bike leg, the two Tims shadowed one another with splits of 2:05:43 and 2:05:42, while Brazilian Igor Amorelli snatched a short lead with a 2nd-best bike split of 2:03:44, and fellow Brazilian Santiago Ascenco came back from a 26:01 swim to join the Tims at T2 after a 2:03:41 split.

Then came the run of truth as Don, the 2006 ITU Olympic distance World Champion, rocketed away to the victory with a race-best 1:14:11 half marathon which outpaced O’Donnell and brought the Englishman to the finish in 3:46:55 with a 2:44 margin of victory. Amorelli, which ran 1:19:21, finished 3rd, 1:26 back of O’Donnell.

In her first serious competitive outing of 2014, Mirinda Carfrae posted a race-fastest run of 1:23:37 on her way to a winning time of 4:15:01. Carfrae held off the runner-up, Brazil’s Carol Furriela, by 5 minutes 3 seconds. It was a good day for coach Siri Lindley, as Team Sirius athletes Carfrae, Amanda Stevens, and Valentina Carvallo went 1-3-4.

Ironman 70.3 Brazil
Brasilia, Brazil
April 6, 2014
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Tim Don (GBR) 3:46:55
2. Timothy O’Donnell (USA) 3:49:39
3. Igor Amorelli (BRA) 3:51:05
4. Santiago Ascenco (BRA) 3:55:00
5. Guilherme Manocchio (BRA) 3:55:21

Women

1. Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 4:15:01
2. Carol Furriela (BRA) 4:20:04
3. Amanda Stevens (USA) 4:23:12
4. Valentina Carvallo (CHL) 4:25:08
5. Vanessa Giannini (BRA) 4:25:32

Nils Frommhold, Simone Brändli win Ironman South Africa

Nils Frommhold of Germany and Simone Brändli of Switzerland won Ironman South Africa Sunday.

Frommhold, whose most notable previous performance was a win at Ironman Arizona in 2012, led wire-to-wire to take his second Ironman victory. Frommhold posted a race-fastest 48:17 swim, a race-best 4:37:12 bike split and a race-best 2:55:59 run to finish in 8:26:07 with a 6:32 margin of victory over runner-up Kyle Buckingham of South Africa in his pro debut. Faris al-Sultan, the 2005 Ironman World Champion, was neck-and-neck with Buckingham with 2 kilometers to go, but fell 40 seconds back at the finish to take 3rd in 8:33:19.

Defending champion Ronnie Schildknecht was kicked in the stomach, went under and swallowed a large quantity of salt water at the swim turnaround. Schildknecht managed to finish the swim 5 minutes behind Frommhold. Things became worse on the bike as he suffered from nausea and arrived at T2 16 minutes down. On the run, Schildknecht was plagued with vomiting and withdrew halfway through.

In the women’s race, Jodie Swallow broke to an early lead with a race-fastest 48:34 swim and held it through a 3rd-best 5:21:19 bike split and 32 kilometers into the run. Whereupon Brändli took the lead with 5 kilometers to go on her way to a race best 3:09:08 marathon that brought her to the finish in 9:31:54 with a 1:13 margin of victory over runner-up Lucy Gossage, who also passed the fading Swallow (3:19:40 run) in the final miles. Swallow took 3rd, 52 seconds back of Gossage, who posted the second-fastest 3:09:55 women’s run.

Defending champion Jessie Donavan finished 4th in 9:49:44

Ironman South Africa
Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa
April 6, 2014
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Nils Frommhold (GER) 8:26:07
2. Kyle Buckingham (RSA) 8:32:39
3. Faris Al-Sultan (GER) 8:33:19
4. Bas Diederen (NED) 8:37:25
5. Matt Trautman (RSA) 8:48:25

Women

1. Simone Brandli (SUI) 9:31:54
2. Lucy Gossage (GBR) 9:33:07
3. Jodie Ann Swallow (GBR) 9:33:59
4. Jessie Donavan (USA) 9:49:44
5. Astrid Ganzow (GER) 10:00:55

Richie Cunningham, Sofie Goos prevail at Ironman 70.3 Texas

Richie Cunningham of Australia and Sofie Goos of Belgium won the men’s and women’s titles at Ironman 70.3 Texas Sunday.

Cunningham overcame a 1:50 deficit after the bike when he unleashed a super fast 1:12:37 run split to pass Brandon Marsh (1:14:32) in the final miles. Cunningham finished in 3:46:11 with a 15 seconds margin of victory over Marsh and a 2:31 advantage over 3rd-place finisher Leon Griffin.

Goos came out of the water in 4th position, just a minute behind fastest swimmer Amy Marsh. Goos, light in weight but feeling strong, had to let Lidbury and Piampiano pass and began the run in fourth position, 3:07 down to Emma-Kate Lidbury at T2. Goos erased deficit with a sizzling fast 1:19:19 run that was 7:28 faster than her English rival and brought her to the finish in 4:06:23 with a 4:42 margin of victory over Lidbury and 5:34 over 3rd-place finisher Sarah Piampiano. Rachel Joyce, the runner-up at last year’s Ironman World Championship, suffered a DNF in one of her first races of the year.

“It is so wonderful to start the season with a good race and a solid KPR total,” said Goos. “For years I have started the season with a terrible performance. Last night I literally gave myself zero chance to win. But some days everything just works and you feel great all day. That was definitely the case today."

Ironman 70.3 Texas
Galveston, Texas
April 6, 2014
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Pro Men

1. Richie Cunningham (AUS) 3:46:11
2. Brandon Marsh (USA) 3:46:26
3. Leon Griffin (AUS) 3:48:42
4. Chris McDonald (AUS) 3:49:01
5. Cody Beals (CAN) 3:50:41

Pro Women

1. Sofie Goos (BEL) 4:06:23
2. Emma-Kate Lidbury (GBR) 4:11:05
3. Sarah Piampiano (USA) 4:11:57
4. Jessica Meyers (USA) 4:18:54
5. Kaitlin Anelasukas (USA) 4:21:25

Cameron Dye, Sarah Haskins win Life Time Fitness South Beach Triathlon

In her third race back from the birth of her child, Sarah Haskins won her third in a row in 2014 and Cameron Dye topped the men’s field at the Life Time Fitness Olympic distance race at South Beach today.

Dye combined a tied-for-race-best 20:53 swim, a dominating, race-best 53:31 bike split and a just-good-enough, 8th-fastest 34:02 run to finish in 1:51:56 with a 1:33 margin of victory over runner-up Greg Bennett and a 2:04 advantage over 3rd-place Michael Poole.

Haskins essentially won the race in the water as her 2nd-best-to-Sara McLarty swim gave her a 36 seconds advantage on her chief rivals of the day, Helle Frederiksen, Flora Duffy and Lauren Brandon. After the swim, Haskins gave back 2 seconds to Frederiksen on the bike and 2 more seconds on the run leaving her 2:01:59 final time 35 seconds ahead of Frederiksen and 3:09 better than 3rd-place finisher Alicia Kaye.

South Beach Triathlon
South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida
April 6, 2014
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k

Results

Men

1. Cameron Dye (USA) 1:51:56
2. Greg Bennett (USA) 1:53:29
3. Michael Poole (USA) 1:54:00
4. Eric Lagerstrom (USA) 1:55:52
5. Brooks Cowan (USA) 1:56:17

Women

1. Sarah Haskins (USA) 2:01:59
2. Helle Frederiksen (DNK) 2:02:34
3. Alicia Kaye (USA) 2:05:08
4. Flora Duffy (BER) 2:06:10
5. Leanda Cave (GBR) 2:07:13