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Crowie's beautiful stride eats up ground on this first stretch along Alii by the sea. At this point he was 7-8 minutes back of Lieto, but fearsome runner Andreas Raelert was about arrive and challenge Alexander's crown.
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Lieto not only had the best bike on the day, he had fortified his run with a long stint training with top US marathoner Ryan Hall at altitude in Mammoth, California.
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Raelert, a two-time Olympian, came to this fight with a race-best 1:10 half-marathon run to take second at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship and a win at Ironman Arizona. Starting the Kona marathon, Raelert was running down Crowie.
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Crowie kept his cool all the way to the turnaround on Alii Drive, 5 miles into the marathon. Here he trailed Lieto and Chris McCormack.
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Right about Mile 6, Raelert joined Crowie on the way back along Alii Drive.
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Raelert and Alexander ran together up Palani through Mile 12 on the Queen K. Here Raelert tries a surge.
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Crowie quickly bridged that gap.
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Raelert fends off a cramp about Mile 13 or 14.
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Raelert seeks ice with some urgency.
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Right as they entered the Energy Lab about Mile 15, Raelert reported that he simply hit the wall and fell back. Lieto was still 4:45 ahead at this point and holding firm.
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When Lieto came out of the hot bath that is the Natural Energy lab, he was struggling and his lead had shrunk to 2:20. But he wasn't ready to surrender.
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A mile out of the Energy Lab, Lieto walked through the aid station, stuffing ice down his shorts to reduce his core temperature.
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By Mile 21 and a half, Crowie arrived. All signs pointed to an early surrender, but Lieto wasn't buying.
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Soon, Crowie and a revived Lieto were running in perfect unison.
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They went through aid stations in synch, reviving memories of the Mark Allen-Dave Scott IronWar duel 20 years ago.
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Both men drink on the run.
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Crowie grabs water and it spills in the air
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Back in synch again. Lieto entertained one last thought of surging past Alexander
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Finally, Crowie breaks the invisible string that held them together at Mile 22 and Lieto's resistance just ran out of gas.
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When he hit the line this time, Crowie appeared to roar like a lion who had slain his prey. The year before, he bowed his head in relief.
