Beaugrand, Hauser Claim Supertri Pro Titles in Jersey Thriller

The sport’s biggest one-day payday offered the usual Supertri excitement with the two athletes who are dominating draft-legal racing these days – Cassandre Beaugrand and Matt Hauser – showing their prowess and taking home a quarter of the US$800,000 prize purse – the win was worth $100,000 for each of the champions.

Beaugrand Unstoppable Again

As the final 3km swim/ 4 km bike/ 1.6km run began, there were four women together – leading the way out of the water was Supertri Pro Series defending champion Jeanne Lehair, just ahead of Beaugrand, with Georgia Taylor-Brown and Jess Fullager close behind. The four had steadily pulled clear of the rest of the field – in the end only seven women would end up finishing as nine athletes found themselves on the wrong side of the 90-second Supertri rule – any athlete 90 seconds behind the lead at a transition is eliminated from the race.

Beugrand had led the way out of the first swim, with Britain’s Eve Whitaker close behind, and the pair would quickly set up a two-woman breakaway. Beaugrand appeared to be quite tentative on the technical Jersey course with its multiple 180-degree turns, and Whitaker appeared on track to pull clear alone as Taylor-Brown started to power a chase group that included Fullagar and Lehair. Whitaker’s aggressive riding ended up being a bit too much as she slid out on a corner, giving up her lead to Beaugrand, who was quickly passed by Taylor-Brown. Whitaker was able to jump back on to her bike and appeared to be back in the mix as the the lead group that now included Belgian Jolien Vermeylen came in to finish the bike. Whitaker’s rear wheel slipped out again and this time she went down harder and would eventually get eliminated from the race.

Fullagar would lead the women out on to the run course, taking the second short chute (Beaugrand took the first after leading out onto the bike), with Taylor-Brown close behind, Vermeylen in third at about 10 seconds, while Beaugrand was a few more seconds behind, ahead of countrywoman Emma Lombardi. Brit Olivia Mathias and Lehair started that first run about 20 seconds down.

Beaugrand easily made up the 12-second gap – the Frenchwoman, who set national records over 3km and 5km on the track and 10K on the roads this year, was in front by the end of the first of two loops of the run course. By the time she was done she hit the water five seconds up on Taylor-Brown and Fullagar. France’s Léonie Périault had now moved her way to fourth, 10 seconds down, a couple of seconds ahead of Lehair.

Beaugrand cruised through the second swim, hitting transition a couple of seconds ahead of Taylor-Brown and two more seconds up on Fullagar. The British pair quickly moved to the front on the bike, trying to put some pressure on Beaugrand as Lehair started to work her way up towards the front. By the time the second bike was finished the lead for Taylor-Brown and Fullagar was up to six seconds over Lehair, with Beaugrand at nine seconds behind. Périault, Lombardi and Vermeylen were now about 30 seconds back and seemingly out of contention for a podium finish.

Once again Beaugrand cruised up to the front of the race, setting up the dramatic third leg alongside Taylor-Brown, Fullagar and Lehair. The Olympic champion appeared to be relaxing as she swam on her former countrywoman’s feet (Lehair now races for Luxembourg), with Taylor-Brown and Fullagar staying in line behind those two. Périault had an incredible third swim to get to within 18 seconds as she ran to transition, but that gap was still too much to make her a podium threat.

As the group of four started the bike, with Beaugrand and Lehair out in front, Fullagar rode into Taylor-Brown and lost all her momentum. Taylor-Brown appeared to recover quickly, but Fullagar was suddenly well back. While Taylor-Brown was able to ride her way back up to the leaders, it took her more than a lap and, by now, Beaugrand wasn’t nearly as tentative on the technical course and wasn’t ready to let the Brit open up a gap. Taylor-Brown’s hard work at the front was enough to drop Lehair, but as the entered the final transition, she still had the Olympic champion on her tail.

Beaugrand had an excellent transition and surged out on to the run course in the lead ahead of Taylor-Brown, with Lehair a few seconds back. Over the years Lehair has managed to rack up all kinds of bad luck at Supertri races – a questionable DQ one year, a flat at another, and having her helmet get stuck in a necklace at yet another. This time the helmet got stuck in one of her braids (she joked afterwards that it was actually sabotage as Taylor-Brown had braided her hair) and she had to start the run still wrestling with the helmet and, once she did finally get it off, had to run the first lap with it in her hand. As Beaugrand cruised away from Taylor-Brown, Lehair’s charge to try and compete for second took another turn for the worse when the helmet bounced out of her box as she tried to drop it off at the end of the first lap, losing her more time as she turned around to put it back.

In the end there was no touching Beaugrand, who claimed the US$100,000 first-prize check, high-fiving Taylor-Brown after the last turnaround, then lots of the crowd on the way in to the finish. Taylor-Brown would continue her impressive Supertri career with second, with Lehair rounding out the podium.

Men’s Race

As with the women’s race, there was no shortage of drama for the men as they embarked on the challenging Enduro format of three continuous triathlon races in a row. It was hardly a surprise to see Hauser lead the way out of the water at the end of the first swim, but the Australian had to push to take the first short-chute award as Mitch Kolkman surged to try and be first on to the bike. After that first swim two of the men expected to push Hauser for the title, Hayden Wilde and Alex Yee, were seven and 10 seconds behind, but both would ride well and work their way to the lead group by the end of the bike. Canadian Tyler Mislawchuk appeared to be on track for a competitive day after a great first swim, only to have a cone fly up into his front wheel, cartwheeling him off his bike and out of the race.

The end of the ride saw Seth Rider take the second short-chute prize ahead of the lead group that now included Wilde and Yee, with both within five seconds of the lead. Reigning Supertri Pro Series champion Csongor Lehmann powered through the first run to take the final short-chute, but by the end of that first run Yee was suddenly in second place.

At the end of the second swim the lead group was 20 seconds up on Germany’s Tim Hellwig and Great Britain’s Michael Gar. Then, suddenly, the group was just six – just before the end of the second bike Yee’s chain snapped, putting him out of the race. As Wilde began to push the pace at the front on the run, Rider and Australia’s Luke Willian began to drop out of the lead group, seemingly setting things up for a four-man race for the title.

Rider was able to bridge back up to the lead group in the final swim, though, creating a lead group of five – Hauser, Lehmann, Wilde, Kolkman and Rider – for the final bike and run legs. The group stayed together on the bike, setting up a one-mile footrace for the title. OK, maybe that should read a one-mile footrace for second and third. Coming out of transition, Hauser took off like a shot and quickly opened up a gap. Lehmann put himself out of contention for the runner-up position when his helmet ended up outside his bin, resulting in a penalty.

As Hauser started the second lap of the final run, he gained even more time on Wilde thanks to being able to take advantage of the short-chute. He continued to dominate the final leg, easily taking the win and the big check. Wilde was solid in taking second, while Kolkman took advantage of Lehmann’s penalty to round out the podium ahead of the Hungarian, with Rider taking fifth.

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