Hunter Kemper charged back from a 17th-fastest bike leg with a dazzling run and Helle Frederiksen won the women's race with a 2nd-best swim and fastest run to take the $100,000 top prizes at the Hy-Vee 5i50 Championship in Des Moines, Iowa.
Men
Kemper started well with a 4th-best 15:42 swim but lost 1:26 to Cam Dye’s race-best 54:40 bike split and 20 seconds to a minute to a large pack of contenders. Whereupon the 39-year-old 4-time Olympian slashed through the field with a 2nd-fastest 30:56 run that brought him to the finish in 1:44:43 with a 18 seconds margin of victory over Swiss Olympian Ruedi Wild and 33 seconds over 3rd place finisher and multiple Olympian Brad Kahlefeldt of Australia.
The win marks the summit of Kemper’s long résumé of success at this big-money classic. The Colorado Springs resident was 17th in 2007, 6th while earning the final U.S. men’s Olympic slot in 2008, and 2nd in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Matt Chrabot of the U.S. took 4th, 19 seconds back of Kahlefeldt and Kevin Collington was 5th, 5 seconds back of Chrabot. Kaleb Van Ort of the U.S. made up for a 16:29 swim and 56:43 bike leg with a race-best 30:32 run to advance to 6th place at the finish, 12 seconds back of Collington.
Australian-born U.S. resident Greg Bennett, who finished 5th at this race in 2007, won it in 2011, and placed 3rd in 2012 and 2013, placed 7th and took home $8,500.
Women
Helle Frederiksen of Denmark combined a 2nd-fastest 16:17 swim, 2nd-best 1:00:54 bike leg and a race-best 35:08 run to finish in 1:54:44 with a 1:08 margin of victory over runner-up Alicia Kaye of the U.S. and 1:25 over 3rd-place finisher and two-time World Champion Jodie Swallow of Great Britain.
The top three finishers dominated the women's race and merited a look at their back-and-forth fortunes. Frederiksen finished the swim 10 seconds behind Sara McLarty’s race-best 16:07 split and 29 seconds ahead of Swallow and 58 seconds ahead of Kaye. Frederiksen and Swallow posted matching 1:15 transition splits with Kaye just one second slower.
Kaye then charged to the front on the bike with a race-best 59:54 split that propelled her to a 1 second advantage over Frederiksen and 6 seconds better than Swallow at T2.
At this point, Frederiksen left her challengers in the proverbial dust with a race-best run that was 1:05 better than Kaye’s 36:13 split and 1:18 better than Swallow’s 36:26 run.
Lauren Goss, who finished 5th here last year, overcame plantar fasciitis troubles to take 4th, 2 minutes back of Swallow. 2-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion Melissa Hauschildt, who took second at this race last year, used a 2nd-best 35:09 run to make up for a 19:30 swim and 1:01:42 bike leg to finish advance to 5th place, 49 seconds behind Goss.
Hy-Vee 5i50 Elite Cup
Des Moines, Iowa
August 31, 2014
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Results
Men
1. Hunter Kemper (USA) 1:44:43 -- $100,000
2. Ruedi Wild (SUI) 1:45:01 - $20,000
3. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 1:45:16 - $15,000
4. Matt Chrabot (USA) 1:45:35 - $10,000
5. Kevin Collington (USA) 1:45:40 - $9,500
6. Kaleb Van Ort (USA) 1:45:52 - $9,000
7. Greg Bennett (AUS/USA) 1:46:00 - $8,500
8. Ben Collins (USA) 1:46:08 - $8,000
9. Rodolphe Von Berg (ITA) 1:46:15 - $7,500
10. James Seear (AUS) 1:46:32 - $7,000
11. Paul Matthews (AUS 1:46:32 - $6,500
12. Cameron Dye (USA) 1:46:41 - $6,000
14. Ivan Raña (ESP) 1:46:55 - $5,000
15. Bevan Docherty (NZL) 1:47:10 - $4,500
Women
1. Helle Frederiksen (DEN) 1:54:44 - $100,000
2. Alicia Kaye (USA) 1:55:52 - $20,000
3. Jodie Swallow (GBR) 1:56:09 - $15,000
4. Lauren Goss (USA) 1:58:09 - $10,000
5. Melissa Hauschildt (AUS) 1:58:58 - $9,500
6. Jennifer Spieldenner (USA) 1:59:40 - $9,000
7. Radka Vodickova (CZE) 2:00:00 - $8,500
8. Laura Bennett (USA) 2:00:09 - $8,000
9. Mary Beth Ellis (USA) 2:00:31 - $7,500
10. Svenja Bazlen (GER) 2:00:48 - $7,000
11. Liz Blatchford (GBR) 2:01:12 - $6,500
12. Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 2:01:40 - $6,000
