6:45 AM: Today we present coverage of the Clear Lake edition of the Tri One-O-One series live and as it happens. We have a crackerjack field in both the men's and women's races. Both Bradenton winners -- Leanda Cave and David Thompson -- are here, and neither should expect an easy race today. Thompson's toughest challenge would, on paper, come from versatile Brian Lavelle. Just as compelling will be Thompson's challenge on the bike, which will come from Nathan Kortuem and especially from second-year pro Jordan Rapp. More on the women's race a little later.
7:05 AM: The pros are off. There is a split start, with pros getting a 5min head start. The main reason for this is the differing rules on wetsuits. In both this and the Bradenton event there was a very real possibility that the pros would race without wetsuits, while the AGers would be using them. In fact, the water was under 72 degrees, and everyone's got a wetsuit on today.
7:10 AM: Nine pros have separated themselves from the rest in the water. Undoubtedly, Leanda Cave is among them. She was the second pro out of the water in Bradenton. Cave is racing in Kona this year, and don't bet against her for the win. She may have a Mark Allen like career yet in front of her, as one of the few who has been at the top of the podium at every distance. Of course, the current Kona champ, Michellie Jones, is a pretty good all-rounder.
7:25 AM: Halfway through the swim, we've got three groups of 2, each group separated by just several seconds. Who's in the front pairing? Could it be Brian Lavelle and Leanda Cave? We don't know. In a damnable turn of events, all pros are wearing the same swim caps, so we don't know where the women are.
7:28 AM: Okay, we've got these three groups of 2 each, then a large chase pack of 8 or 10. But, a strange thing happened. The guy leading that third pairing just stopped, dead in the water, and then went over to the lifeguard. We don't know why, if he was in trouble, or what. But he's back swimming, now behind the person who was on his feet.
7:30 AM: The pros are really going, at least the fastest of them. They are about 4min faster over their first of two laps versus the leading AGer. Yes, it appears to be Brian Lavelle leading the race.
7:33 AM: The pros are less than 10min from exiting the water. We have the Slowtwitch ice cream truck gassed up and ready to head out in pursuit of some 320-watt riding.
7:36 AM: We just hope no bad luck or silly mistake keeps us from a highly anticipated showdown throwdown on the bike. Jordan Rapp has had an excellent lead up to this event, and he's absolutely determined to ride stroke for stroke with one of the sport's top 5 cyclists in David Thompson. We'll see if he can pull it off.
7:46 AM: Brian Lavelle exits first, as was expected. David Thompson was right on his feet, which was not expected. Great swim for the Bradenton victor. About :45 down was Chris Hauth and a pro whom we do not know. Another minute down was women's favorite Leanda Cave and Slowtwitch neo-pro Richard Armstrong. Then Nathan Kortuem after a lengthy gap, followed by Jordan Rapp.
7:50 AM: The women following Cave were Emily Finanger, wife of Inside Tri's Lars Finanger. She's doing her first race. Just after was Hillary Biscay with Erin Ford on her feet.
7:52 AM: Following these ladies was Alexis Waddell, fresh off her third at Alcatraz last week. Kim Loeffler is out of the water, just out now, in about 49 minutes, and she's got some ground to make up. There are a couple of women competing in their first pro race. Emily Finanger is one of them, another is Kim Loeffler's twin sister Kelly Liljeblad. It's no certainty that Kim is going to beat her sister today. Kelly is a 2:32 marathoner (the time set in Houston), and she's entering triathlon fresh off a career as an elite runner. This is a course that's going to favor run strength.
7:56 AM: Monty is driving the Slowtwitch ice cream truck, and he's got the pedal to the floor chasing down the male leaders. He's frankly having trouble catching David Thompson, but from what we hear over the PA system Brian Lavelle is having some trouble handling Thompson's pedal power himself.
8:01 AM: Monty reports that by mile-10 Brian Lavelle has given up 1:10 on David Thompson. Who rides the bike faster than this guy in triathlon over this distance at this moment? Bjorn? Normann? Torbjorn? We'll ask Brian what he thinks after the race.
8:04 AM: We're still trying to find out who this mystery late entry is who's in third place in the men's field. After him come Chris Hauth in his second-ever pro race, riding with short courser Victor Plata at 4min down. Jordan Rapp and Nathan Kortuem are together. Ted Aas. We think that third place is Jeff Piland. Yes, that's our reaction as well (Jeff who?).
8:06 AM: The first four women are Leanda Cave, then Karen Holloway trailing by 2min, followed by Alexis Waddel who obviously knifed through Hillary Biscay and Erin Ford, who're riding more or less together. This assumes Alexis did in fact come out of the water behind these gals.
8:10 AM: Cathy Morgan (ironclm) and Katy Jossy (Katy) have joined us in the Slowtwitch trailer. We'll be adding their comments as the day progresses. "The venue seems very nice," says Cathy. "Seems" because they haven't ridden the bike course yet, which they're intending to do directly. They're going to run too, sez Cathy, just in case a certain somebody (aka Coach Skid) reads this.
8:15 AM: Jeff Piland, currently third, is having the race of his life -- if things continue as they are. There's a lot of 14ths and 17ths and 21sts in his pro career. He's coached by Tim Sheeper out of the Bay Area, Tim himself a good pro in his day, and a 4:30ish Wildflowerer as a 40+ AGer.
9:00 AM: No, I was not cavorting with the two girls in the Slowtwitch trailer. We lost our internet connection. So, I've been running around looking for another one, and I'm now sitting in a cafe and not in the Slowtwtich trailer. Update: David Thompson is about 2:40 up over Brian Lavelle. Jordy Rapp has made it to 3rd. He was way into third, but then dropped a chain riding up this course's significant hill. He lost about :40, Monty sez, putting it back on. I'm starting to think Jordy's one of those guys, you know, it's always something. I think those hard bike riders -- Jordan and Bjorn -- tend to just have bad things happen, it's a watts thing.
9:04 AM: So it's Jordy Rapp -- Rappstar -- who was on an even bike split with David Thompson, Monty reports, before the chain drop, now back 5+ minutes back of the leader. Just behind Rapp was Piland, followed by Nate Kortuem some gap back. Pardon my lack of specificity, but I'm noting all this as I'm ducking into one cafe after another looking for airwaves.
9:09 AM: We're going to get you an up to date split on the men, but the last we had was Thompson up by 2:40 on Lavelle, with Rapp @5min back exactly. Kortuem is next, with Aas, Plata, Hauth trailing.
9:10 AM: The women's race is going against type. Instead of spreading out, it's converging. Cave has exactly one minute over Karen Holloway, who's closing. Alexis Waddell is closing on them both, at exactly 2min down.
9:22 AM: Latest update from the men, and this is about 45mi into the race. Lavelle is hanging tough, 3min down on David Thompson, Jordan Rapp is 5:10 down, so he's making very slight progress on Lavelle. Ted Aas is now 4th, 7min down on the men's leader.
9:25 AM: Following Aas is Nate Kortuem, 8:30 down. Plata and Hauth are riding together, 9:20 behind. Jeff Piland comes next at about 12min down.
9:29 AM: The women: Leanda Cave still leads the field 2hr19min10sec into the race, and appears to have put in a bit of a spurt. Holloway is 1:20 back, losing a little bit of time. Alexis Waddell is 2:40 down. Hanging tough in 4th is Heather Wurtele just 3min back, so Heather is making a move. Lars Finanger's wife Emily is also racing tough, in her first race, in 5th. She's just 5:50 back of a former world triathlon champion more than 40 miles into the bike ride. Erin Ford came next 6:30 behind Cave, and Hillary Biscay is 7:40 back. That means Ford put 1:20 on Biscay over 20mi. Kim Loeffler comes next.
9:36 AM: A lot of people are surprised at the beauty of this course. Some of us knew of this unused venue, and wondered why it hasn't been in play before. Triathlon has overlooked Clear Lake for far too long. The lake is large, it's clean, and quite scenic. The town of Lakeport is the seat of Lake County, and the downtown is quaint and reminds me a bit of older, time-forgotten towns in the Appalachians. This area used to be the premier producer in America of pears. But the pear orchards are getting pulled out one by one and replaced by wine grape vineyards. This is the new Napa. Tens of thousands of acres are under plow by winemakers.
9:40 AM: The next two women through are Gabriela Loskotova, the Czech who was 7th in Bradenton, if I remember right. Then came South African Kathryn Cronje. About 16min behind the leader at 45mi was Kelly Liljeblad, Loeffler's twin. Remember, she's fresh off a career as a professional marathoner.
9:42 AM: The other cash crop here is walnuts. There are plenty of walnut orchards visible, old orchards, with huge burls of California walnut serving up limbs of English walnuts grafted onto them. The latter is the nut you're used to eating, but the trees are given to disease when planted here. So the hardy California walnut -- after which the East Bay city of Walnut Creek is named -- is planted as rootstock. Walnuts are grown throughout California's Central Valley, but they thrive here.
9:48 AM: Big news in the men's race! At 30mi to go in the bike ride, David Thompson came through in 2:37:45. Brian Lavelle came through in 2:40:30, which means Thompson may be showing signs of potential mortality. Lavelle has pulled back :15 over the last several miles. But the news is Rappstar, just :59 back of Lavelle. Jordan's pulled better than 2min on Thompson in under 10 miles.
9:50 AM: About these walnuts. The veneer from these old trees is exceptionally valuable to furniture makers. Growers here lose them to thieves who come in with quiet electric chainsaws and hack them down. Even during the 1950s it was common for tree speculators to buy houses in the East, just for the old Eastern walnut tree sitting in the front yard.
9:52 AM: Ted Aas himself just made up a minute on Thompson. Remember, he was a late charger in Bradenton. Chris Hauth has moved into 5th, 10:15 back of Thompson. Kortuem is now :30 back of Hauth, Plata just back of Kortuem. This means 2nd, 3rd and 4th are all making a move on Thompson.
10:04 AM: The weather has been superb, with virtually no wind early on and temps on the low and mid 70s. But there is a slight wind picking up now at lakeside. I'll inquire of Monty what he thinks of the conditions out on the course.
10:06 AM: Swedish Doode Ted Aas is a power rider. He negotiates the minor ascents out of the saddle and in the big gear, yanking on his pursuits. At least that's Monty's report as he watches the powerful Aas from behind in the Slowtwitch ice cream truck.
10:12 AM: Cave is at 2:56:40 of elapsed time with 30mi or so to go. Then:
Holloway @1:05
Waddell @4:00
Wurtele @4:25
Finager @7:15
Ford @8:55
Biscay @9:45
Loeffler @10:20
Monty sez Holloway is probably riding the fastest split, and Loeffler is even-splitting Cave, with Wurtele just a tick slower.
10:18 AM: The weather is as good out on the bike course as it is next to the lake. Wind is very light, and a bit of cloud cover has kept the temps nice for riding. The sun is a bit more evident now, but we're crossing our fingers for a run temp in the 70s. It could be 90 or 95 now based on this area's norms, so we've really lucked out.
10:19 AM: This lake sits 1350 feet above sea level, so elevation is not a factor. Many digger pines here, as this is a foothill area and digger pines are the first you see. For those who're familiar with Wildflower's triathlon, the pines there are diggers, and they dominate Lake San Antonio's sister, Lake Nacimiento. But this Clear Lake area is greener and lusher than Wildflower. There are also ponderosa pines here, as well as buckeye, wild walnut trees, willows and cottonwoods. Both live oak an black oak are in abundance. The hillsides not wooded are covered with greasewood and manzanita.
10:21 AM: David Thompson still leads at mile-65 into the bike. He came through here at 3hr12min flat. Then it's:
Lavelle @2:00
Rapp @2:50
Aas @6:50
10:30 AM: More men:
Hauth @9:48
Kortuem @12:05
Plata @13:00
Remember that pro who stopped in the water? That was Nate Kortuem, who had some sort of panic attack or technical problem with his breathing. He unsuited himself, gave the wetsuit to the lifeguard, and then commenced the swim.
10:30 AM: On our forum, a reader has brought up the IQ of the top two bike splitters on the day. Jordan Rapp and David Thompson are both well-educated and bring some smarts and erudition to the game. If it's the rider, not the bike, is it fair to say it's also the brain, not just the brawn?
10:40 AM: Earlier we mentioned that Richard Armstrong, also in the pro field, is a Slowtwitcher. His user name is toofewbikes.
10:42 AM: When the organizers were looking for a venue in the west for their 101 series, they expressed a desire to find another Penticton. I would say they've hit on it with Lakeport, but there is one area where this town well exceeds IM Canada's host, and that is the transition venue. The city park where everything happens is right on the water. More later.
10:49 AM: Leanda Cave passes mile-65 in 3:34:05 of elapsed time The it's...
Holloway @1:25
Wurtele @5:10
Waddell @6:10
Finager @7:55
Loeffler @9:45
It seems that Holloway is hanging tough, and that Wurtele and Waddell are suffering a bit from the hard pace. Loeffler is also riding tough, passing both Biscay and Ford since our last check.
10:51 AM: This park, where race-central is situated, reminds me a little of the first view you get of Friedrichshafen upon reaching that city by ferry, as you travel from Switzerland to Germany across Lake Constanz (the Bodensee). I was surprised, when I first saw this Germany city's lakeside park, to see giant sequoias very tall, very large. Likewise, Lakeport has its own sequoiadendron, but these are very large sequoia sempirvirens, the giant sequoia's close cousin. This is the coast redwood.
10:54 AM: David Thompson continues to lead through about 75mi, but Jordan Rapp appears bound and determined to make a late charge and catch the early leader. He's in second, having passed Brian Lavelle, and is closing in! He's only about 2min down on Thompson.
10:58 AM: I just love devil may care, three sheets to the wind, bike riding, don't you? Both Jordan Rapp and Karen Holloway seem to be riding angry. I like this existential approach -- this, "the run will take care of itself" posture. That's easy for me to say, I don't have to face 18.6mi of payback from a set of tired legs and lungs.
11:01 AM: We're just closing in on 4hr of racing, and David Thompson's in. He dismounted at 3:57-flat of elapsed racing time. Monty was hurtling pell mell through traffic in the ice cream truck trying to catch Thompson's entry into transition, and just got there. Lavelle himself executed a late charge and caught Rapp, as they both tightened the gap to 1:45 down on the race leader. Did Lavelle draft the ice cream truck? Monty says no, Brian did it all on his own.
11:07 AM: Brian Lavelle has been in this position many times. He's tall and lean, in the physical mold of Peter Reid, and runs quite well. David Thompson also runs well, as is evidenced by his win at this distance only several weeks ago against the likes of Marino Vanhoenacker, one of the world's best at this distance. Jordan Rapp is also in the long and lean mold, but he is a tabla raza at running. We don't really know what this second year pro can do. Clearly the ride has been his best event, but he enjoyed some very good training up at "the ranch," aka Xantusia, the Slowtwitch headquarters, and we'll see what coming off the bike in the hunt means to young Rappstar.
11:10 AM: We think Jordan Rapp had the fastest bike split by about 3min, and that's going to rile or maybe humble David Thompson. Were it not for the Bradenton winner's over the top swim, Rapp might've entered T-2 in the lead. Don't take anything away from today's current race leader, however. The Minnesotan did what he needed to do on the bike, and has obviously spent a lot of time in the pool in recent weeks. One would not have guessed he'd come out of the water in front of Chris Hauth and right with Brian Lavelle.
11:14 AM: Cathy Morgan calls in from the course, and reports a little breeze has blown up. "We wish we were racing," says the Ironveteran and her Slowtwitch pal Katy. "It's beautiful out here, the course is fantastic, the volunteers are tremendous, I love everything about this so far." That's high praise from ironclm, who's not afraid to call a spade a spade.
11:18 AM: Herbert Krabel, the sport's premieur guerrilla marketer and chief advocate of Litespeed and Quintana Roo through most of the past decade, writes in that he's from the Bodensee. He says he knows it must be beautiful here in Lakeport if it's anything like that. Friedrichshafen is where the popular Eurobike trade show is held, which is probably the world's largest bicycle show these days. It has a city park next to the lake that could almost serve as a botanical garden in its own right. That's what strikes me about Lakeport, this similarity. Lakeport's perfectly manicured park features very large specimens indigenous to the general area, like coast redwoods and california sycamores. There is an elm that must hail from the Eastern U.S., as well as a large, old cypress that I can't identify, with cones larger than an extra large chicken egg.
11:20 AM: More male pros:
Ted Aas @7:45 behind race leader David Thompson into T-2
Chris Hauth @14min-flat
Nate Kortuem @15:40
Victor Plata @16:15
Slowtwitch Richard Armstrong has now moved up to 9th place in the men's pro field.
11:28 AM: Leanda Cave is in at T-2, and successfully out onto the run. Cave is a great runner. She's a former ITU World Champ, and won at this distance just some weeks ago. Smart money says she can deal with Karen Holloway, especially since the Virginian entered the run 2:50 behind the woman from Wales. The question is, did Cave pull some of her gap back on the bike, or did Holloway give it back? Perhaps it's academic, since one is as good or bad as the other, depending on who you're rooting for.
11:41 AM: Wurtele is 3rd off the bike, 7min back, then Waddell at 8:45 back, Loeffler is still hanging tough, 10:10 back of Cave. Finanger is have a grand pro debut coming in 10:50, then Biscay at around 15min.
11:43 AM: Hillary Biscay is addicted to racing long. She's like Joe Bonness, though even Smokin' Joe couldn't hack Biscay's schedule. She's already got three IM races under her belt this year, and has four more scheduled. Plus this. She was up at the ranch last year for some training, and after this race heads to Switzerland to train with the Brett Sutton combine. Is all this racing Sutton's idea? Biscay says no, this is all her own. Among other things, she regulary puts in 100-mile-plus running weeks. That's lots of volume. Is all that racing finally coming home to roost today?
11:49 AM: Monty's careening, slalom-style, through the trailing runners, dodging oncoming cyclists, in the Slowtwitch ice cream truck on his way to the frontrunners. Me, I'm sitting at the Cafe Victoria, in beautiful downtown Lakeport, at the corner of 3rd and Main. I'm going to take this opportunity to head back to the race start, and see if I can get a signal.
11:59 AM: David Thompson is showing his all-around ability today, building a 6min lead over second place 8mi into the run. But, our own Jordan Rapp, who's responsible for a lot of the recent and future functionality on this site, has himself built a 1min lead over Brian Lavelle. Ted Aas is in 4th, 11min down. We have 10 barn-burning miles remaining in the men's race.
12:05 PM: We've just crossed over into our sixth hour of racing. Less than one hour to go. This is a tough run course, much more challenging than Bradenton's. But, the weather is close to perfect -- a light breeze, temps in the mid to hi 70s.
12:07 PM: Victor Plata has picked up Chris Hauth, and leads Hauth by :30 through mile-8. Hauth, by the way, is Leanda Cave's "co" coach, along with Torsten Abel. Now, back to the leaders, things may be getting interesting. At 9.3mi, halfway through the run, Jordan Rapp still holds second place just about a minute over Brian Lavelle. But, Rapp is 4:55 behind David Thompson. Monty, holding his stopwatch outside the ice cream truck just 2mi ago, had that gap at 6min. Remember, Thompson put all this time into Rapp over the first several miles. Is Thompson just throttling back now, playing it safe after building a safe gap? Or did Thompson go out a bit hastily to distance himself from his rivals?
12:17 PM: For you forum habitués, Cousin Elwood has just dismounted and is out on the run!
12:19 PM: Splits schitz. We have Rappstar 6:05 back at mile-11, according to Monty. So, perhaps we got a bogus split here at the end of lap-1. But, Lavelle seems to be laboring. His cadence has slowed, and he's now 1:45 back of Rapp. David Thompson looks fine, according to Monty, so it's just a case of whether he can hold together.
12:25 PM: Nate Kortuem has just dropped from the race. Remember that problem he had in the swim? He has for some reason got a breathing issue. He says he does not have asthma. There is algae present around this lake, in spots, and some folks have an allergy. This is the same sort of thing that happens to some athletes at Couer d'Alene, tho in that latter case the culprit s thought by some to be pollen.
12:29 PM: At mile-8 Leanda Cave crossed in a race-elapsed-time of 5:19:10. By Monty's account Kim Loeffler has moved up into 2nd! She's exactly 7min down on Cave, which means she's taken 3min+ back in those 8mi. That's not enough to overtake Cave, but it's enough to make things nervous.
12:33 PM: We've got 21k in the books, 9k to go, and the gap in the men's race is still right at 6min.
12:38 PM: Alexis Waddell is in third place place among the women at 8min exactly, Holloway another 2min back. Erin Ford is just under 15min down. Erin was hoping for top-5 today, so she's on pace to meet her pre-race goal.
12:42 PM: Wurtele has DNF'd. Too bad, she was having a wonderful race. Emily Finanger is next, what a great pro debut, 6th at this point!
12:47 PM: Kim Loeffler's twin sister, Kelly, came next after Emily Finanger. While she has a marathon best of 2:32, we've heard she's fresh off a 2:33. We don't know if that's in fact true. In any case, she's 7th, in the money, and I have a sneaking suspicion that may not be her final place.
12:53 PM: We've got 2mi to go in the men's race. All indications are that David Thompson is going to make it 2-for-2. But it's not over yet, and last we heard there's an unsafe margin between 2nd and 3rd.
12:54 PM: Emily Finanger just came through to finish the first lap, and right on her heels, absolutely flying, was Killy Liljeblat. She's not running a 2:32, but her pace is not that much slower! Further ahead, at 11mi, Leanda Cave came through in an elapsed time of 5:43:50. Loeffler's gap back from her about 6min back. Waddell is 8:40 back.
12:57 PM: David Thompson, 1.6mi to go, in 5:50:50 worth of race time. Nobody in sight behind him.
1:01 PM: We're about to pass 6 hours of racing here in Lakeport. The wind is picking up a little, which is going to be welcome to the runners looking for relief.
1:02 PM: David Thompson is going to win this. But at a mile to go that 6min lead is now 5:15, and a resurgent Brian Lavelle is only 1:05 behind Jordan Rapp for that second place spot. Things are getting tighter at the pointy end of this race!
1:07 PM: David Thompson has done it! 6:03:07 is the finish time, the relatively slow time a descriptor of the difficulty of this course. Who will come down Main Street in second?
1:13 PM: Jordan Rapp has indeed hung on for second, in fact coming in at 6:07 and change, drawing him to around 4min of the winner. Brian Lavelle, clearly spent and sore, did his job and came home third. Jordy Rapp crossed the finish in fine style, then commenced a b-line for the lake, inside of which he now apparently sits.
1:15 PM: Smart, measured, cagey and opportunitistic Victor Plata has just passed Ted Aas with a mile to go. He now stands to place 4th, and pick up a very nice paycheck.
1:17 PM: Monty keeps getting propositioned by children, who do not understand that the ice cream truck does not in fact have any ice cream in it. It has beer in it. Monty nevertheless keeps his eye on the ball, and reports that 4th, 5th and 6th places among the women are in play. This is great news, because we hate to see these people just coast in. We prefer for them to scratch and scrape all the way to the finish.
1:19 PM: Remember Jeff Piland? He flatted on the bike, as it turns out. That's how he went from having the race of his life to out of the picture. But, he's not quite out yet. Victor Plata just crossed the line in 4th place, and Piland may finish as high as 7th, and in the money. Piland works for Tim Sheeper, we are apprised, and is not coached by him. F.I.S.T. graduate and longtime tri-scene guru Muddy Waters (the other one) coaches both Piland and today's 3rd placer Brian Lavelle. Ted Aas comes across in 5th as we write this.
1:25 PM: Victor Plata just finished his second year of law school at McGeorge in Sacramento. This is day-28 since commencing his training. In fact, tomorrow he has another final! Victor liked the venue a lot. But he says the run is too hard. Maybe that has something to do with his short training curve?
1:31 PM: Leanda Cave crossed the 17mi mark in a race time of 6:25:20. Nobody in sight. She should cruise to victory.
1:45 PM: Leanda Cave is your women's winner. Her goal is to continue on this year through Hawaii and give the Ironman a shot. So far, it couldn't have gone better for her. Kim Loeffler is still 5:30 or so back as of mile-17, she just ran out of real estate. And this is the difference between Ironman and 101. In fact, Loeffler just crossed the finish. She might've caught Cave had there been that extra real estate.
1:47 PM: Jeff Piland did cross in 7th place, behind Chris Hauth, who greeted his pupil Cave as she came across.
1:49 PM: It should be Alexis Waddell next. Though she was 7min back of Loeffler, she was clear of 4th. That established, it's going to be interesting to see how much ground Loeffler's twin Kelly Liljeblad can make up.
1:51 PM: At mile-17 Karen Holloway holds onto 4th, 6:46:10 into the race. But, Liljeblad is at :40 from her and closing, and Erin Ford is :10 behind her. Ford got passed by Liljeblad, but they're both catching Holloway.
1:55 PM: Slowtwitcher Richard Armstrong is the next to cross the finish. We think that places him as the 8th or 9th man. Alexis Waddell -- aka Pink -- just came across as 3rd place woman in 6:51:30.
1:58 PM: One mile to go and Holloway, Liljeblad and Ford are in the same :20, in that order.
2:07 PM: Surprise, surprise. Holloway held them off! With a 2:32 marathoner bearing down the entire last mile, just seconds away, Karen Holloway found speed she's probably never exhibited in the last mile of an ultra and kept Kelly Liljeblad at bay. Erin Ford rounded out the trio of 4th, 5th, and 6th.
2:12 PM: Rounding out the women's top-7, we have Gabriela Loskotova just finishing. I believe she got this same place in Bradenton.
2:22 PM: Click here for the complete finish results, compiled up to this point in time. Click again as time passes, the more comprehensive the results will be.
2:24 PM: We're going to close it down from the town of Lakeport, on beautiful Clear Lake, the next-to-perfect venue for an ultra that has slipped through the cracks... until today. Cathy Morgan says bye as well, and adds, "Were going to come to a training camp here." (Skid, she did do her bike and run.) We expect to do a lot of partying tonight, we're in no hurry to leave. Monty's going to gas up the ice cream truck, get his sorry self ready to bolt, then properly prepared for eventual takeoff we'll commence aprés tri activities. See you at the next Triathlon One-O-One.
