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Luke Bell and Rebekah Keat win Challenge Shepparton
Australians Luke Bell and Rebekah Keat won home town victories at the half distance Challenge Shepparton on Sunday in Victoria, Australia.
Bell outpaced Samuel Betten with a dominating bike leg and Keat’s superior swim bested bike and run equal Yvonne Van Vlerken for the elite titles.
Men
Bell exited the swim within 14 seconds of swim leaders Nick Kastelein (23:17 split), Sam Betten and Mike Phillips. Bell then destroyed the field with a race-best 2:06:46 bike leg that gave him a 7 minutes lead on the three faster swimmers. Bell held on with a 3rd-best 1:17:55 run split that brought him to the finish in 3:51:23 with a 3:54 margin of victory. Betten posted a race-best 1:14:54 half marathon split to run down Kastelein in the final kilometers to take the runner-up slot, 32 seconds ahead of 3rd-place finisher Kastelein.
Australians Luke Bell and Rebekah Keat won home town victories at the half distance Challenge Shepparton on Sunday in Victoria, Australia.
Bell outpaced Samuel Betten with a dominating bike leg and Keat’s superior swim bested bike and run equal Yvonne Van Vlerken for the elite titles.
Men
Bell exited the swim within 14 seconds of swim leaders Nick Kastelein (23:17 split), Sam Betten and Mike Phillips. Bell then destroyed the field with a race-best 2:06:46 bike leg that gave him a 7 minutes lead on the three faster swimmers. Bell held on with a 3rd-best 1:17:55 run split that brought him to the finish in 3:51:23 with a 3:54 margin of victory. Betten posted a race-best 1:14:54 half marathon split to run down Kastelein in the final kilometers to take the runner-up slot, 32 seconds ahead of 3rd-place finisher Kastelein.
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“It looks easy, but it was painful and it’s always good to win from the front,” said Bell who added that he embraced the stiff breeze. “I was quite happy when I woke up his morning and saw the winds. It’s hard conditions to race in, you’re conscious not to over pace into the headwinds and the tailwinds you’re trying to hold wattage and stay on pace.”
Bell kept his cool on the first two of three 7km run laps, and then hit the gas near the end to seal the win. “I went out steady, maintained the second lap and then dropped three quick k’s at about 3:45 kph pace to make sure I could get to that last out and back and be able to enjoy the final 3k home,” said Bell.
Women
Radka Vodickova of the Czech Republic led the swim in 25:08, which gave her a 23 seconds lead on Keat, 1:46 on Vanessa Murray and 3:37 on Keat’s Team Sirius teammate Yvonne Van Vlerken of Netherlands. Van Vlerken made up 1:38 with a women's-best 2:20:15 bike split, while Vodickova suffered mechanical issues and a flat tire. Vodickova thus limped into T2 with a 2:34:21 split that left her 14 minutes down and out of contention for the win.
Van Vlerken tried hard to erase her 2 minutes deficit, but after two laps Keat increased her lead to 2:25. Keat then had a scare on that final lap. “I felt great on the run and I wanted to negative split it but I felt a twinge in my calves with 2km to go,” said Keat. “I stopped for a little bit to see if I could push through, popped some Nurofen and got through it.”
Keat then held serve on the run as her women’s 2nd-fastest 1:23:24 half marathon out-split Van Vlerken by 25 seconds. Keat took her 4th Shepparton victory in 4:13:47 with a 2:24 margin of victory over Van Vlerken and 14:42 on 3rd-place finisher Vodickova.
Bell kept his cool on the first two of three 7km run laps, and then hit the gas near the end to seal the win. “I went out steady, maintained the second lap and then dropped three quick k’s at about 3:45 kph pace to make sure I could get to that last out and back and be able to enjoy the final 3k home,” said Bell.
Women
Radka Vodickova of the Czech Republic led the swim in 25:08, which gave her a 23 seconds lead on Keat, 1:46 on Vanessa Murray and 3:37 on Keat’s Team Sirius teammate Yvonne Van Vlerken of Netherlands. Van Vlerken made up 1:38 with a women's-best 2:20:15 bike split, while Vodickova suffered mechanical issues and a flat tire. Vodickova thus limped into T2 with a 2:34:21 split that left her 14 minutes down and out of contention for the win.
Van Vlerken tried hard to erase her 2 minutes deficit, but after two laps Keat increased her lead to 2:25. Keat then had a scare on that final lap. “I felt great on the run and I wanted to negative split it but I felt a twinge in my calves with 2km to go,” said Keat. “I stopped for a little bit to see if I could push through, popped some Nurofen and got through it.”
Keat then held serve on the run as her women’s 2nd-fastest 1:23:24 half marathon out-split Van Vlerken by 25 seconds. Keat took her 4th Shepparton victory in 4:13:47 with a 2:24 margin of victory over Van Vlerken and 14:42 on 3rd-place finisher Vodickova.
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British Triathlon Awards ceremony honors top UK triathletes of 2015
After a successful season at different distances, British Triathlon honored the country’s top performers at a Saturday banquet.
Jonathan Brownlee won the British Triathlon Male Triathlete of the Year Award for his two WTS series wins at Auckland and the Gold Coast.
Brownlee said “I haven’t had my best year with injuries and so it’s a great feeling to pick this award up.”
After a successful season at different distances, British Triathlon honored the country’s top performers at a Saturday banquet.
Jonathan Brownlee won the British Triathlon Male Triathlete of the Year Award for his two WTS series wins at Auckland and the Gold Coast.
Brownlee said “I haven’t had my best year with injuries and so it’s a great feeling to pick this award up.”
