After a hiatus, triathlon activity has increased enough to offer a Weekend Box in addition to feature races such as the Gold Coast World Triathlon Series events already seen on the main page. On the second weekend of April, we offer accounts and photos from Taiwan, Guam and New Zealand for your reading pleasure.

Domenico Passuello and Dede Griesbauer take Ironman Taiwan

Former pro cyclist Domenico Passuello of Italy won his first full Ironman and U.S. pro Dede Griesbauer of won her third as they prevailed at Ironman Taiwan.

Griesbauer followed up a recent 2nd-place finish at Ironman 70.3 Puerto Rico with a dominating performance at Taiwan. Griesbauer combined a women’s 2nd-best 51:10 swim, a women's-fastest 5:05:19 bike split and a women’s 4th-fastest 3:17:16 marathon to finish in 9:20:23 with an 11:08 margin on Dimity-Lee Duke of Australia and 18:11 advantage on 3rd-place finisher Kim Schwabenbauer of the U.S.

Coming off a victory at Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya last weekend, Passuello combined an 8th-best 52:25 swim, a dominant 4:32:16 bike split and a 3rd-best 2:55:52 marathon to finish in 8:25:54. Passuello took the lead at 40 kilometers into the bike leg and held off a race-best 2:49:48 run by runner-up Frederik Croneborg of Sweden to earn a 2:43 margin of victory. Patrick Evoe of the U.S. finished 3rd, 15:04 behind the winner.

Women

Samantha Morrison of the U.S. led the swim in 51:05, 5 seconds ahead of Griesbauer and 13 seconds ahead of Eva Potuckova of the Czech Republic. Top contender Dimity-Lee Duke of Australia trailed the leaders by 7 minutes.

Griesbauer took firm control of the race on the bike leg as her 5:05:18 split was 10:56 better than Duke and brought her to T2 with an 18:30 lead on her Australian rival and 19:06 on Keiko Tanaka of Japan. Kim Schwabenbauer of the U.S. followed up a 1:00:08 swim with a women's 2nd-best 5:15:41 bike split to trail Tanaka by 37 seconds.

With the luxury of a major lead, Griesbauer played her cards conservatively on a rainy, 81 degrees Fahrenheit afternoon, surrendering 7 minutes to Duke and 2 minutes to Schwabenbauer on the run and was still able to enjoy a comfortable lead at the finish.

The win was Griesbauer’s 3rd Ironman victory, following a course-record win at Ironman UK in 2006 and a triumph at Ironman Brazil in 2009. She also scored top 10 finishes at the Ironman World Championship in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Griesbauer has come back from career-threatening injuries suffered in a bike crash at Ironman Germany in 2011 in which she broke an elbow, two ribs, her pelvis in two places and a broken hip.

Men

Rod De Kanel of France led the swim in 50:35, followed by Frederik Croneborg of Sweden (50:36), Cameron Brown of New Zealand (50:57), and other top contenders including Patrick Jaberg of Switzerland (52:21), Passuello (52:26), and Evoe (55:42).

Former pro cyclist Passuello charged hard from the start of the bike leg, taking the lead after 40 kilometers and thanks to a race-best 4:32:16 bike split earned an 8:52 lead on Patrick Jaberg of Switzerland, 9:06 on Cam Brown and 9:14 on Croneborg.

While Passuello maintained a steady balanced race with his 3rd-best run split, he needed every minute he put in the bank with his sizzling fast ride. Croneborg, who finished 3rd behind Passuello’s win at Putrajaya 70.3, chopped 6:04 off the Italian’s lead with his race-best 2:49:48 run but fell 2:43 short of the win. Evoe, who ran 2:57:06, finished 3rd, 15:04 after the winner and 2:15 ahead of Cameron Brown, who finished 4th.

Ironman Taiwan
Kenting, Taiwan
April 12, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Women

1. Dede Griesbauer (USA) 9:20:23
2. Dimity-Lee Duke (AUS) 9:31:30
3. Kim Schwabenbauer (USA) 9:38:34
4. Shiao-Yu Li (TPE) 9:50:51
5. Keiko Tanaka (JPN) 9:55:40

Men

1. Domenico Passuello (ITA) 8:25:55
2. Frederik Croneborg (SWE) 8:28:38
3. Patrick Evoe (USA) 8:40:58
4. Cameron Brown (NZL) 8:43:14
5. Patrick Jaberg (SUI) 8:44:47

Ben Allen, Carina Wasle win XTERRA Guam

Ben Allen of Australia and Carina Wasle of Austria won the 11th XTERRA Guam Championship on a soggy, muddy track in the Northern Marianas.

Allen posted the fastest swim, mountain bike and trail run splits to finish in 2:26:28, 10:14 ahead of Bradley Weiss of South Africa and 13:49 ahead of 3rd place finisher Takahiro Ogasawara of Japan.

Due to storms in the Western Pacific, race director Eric Tydingco opted for an alternate bike course to minimize the sloppy red mud conditions. Confronting the new course without a pre run, Guam veteran Allen sailed through the obstacles in 1:19:46, 2:52 faster than Weiss, and navigated the waterfall and jungle streams of the run in 46:46, 6:41 faster than Weiss, for a dominating victory.

In the women's race, Jacqui Slack of Great Britain posted a women's fastest 21:51 swim which gave her 1:44 lead on Wasle starting the bike. Wasle gained it all back on the slippery mountain bike section, before Wasle passed Slack in the last waterfall and jungle river section of the trail run and held on to win by 30 seconds. Wasle lost one of her shoes and was force to dig in the mud before catching Slack.

Mieko Carey of Japan finished 3rd, 11:19 behind Slack.

In the hunt for $10,000 total bonus prize money awarded to pros on the XTERRA Asian Tour, Ben Allen has combined a 3rd at the Philippines and wins at Saipan and Guam to lead the men with 282 points, 2 points ahead of Brad Weiss, who has one win and two second place finishes so far.

Jacqui Slack leads the women, as her two second place finishes and one win total 280 points, 41 points ahead of Mieko Carey.

There have been $15,000 prize purse payouts at the Philippines, Saipan and Guam and there will be $50,000 Australian awarded at the XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championship in Australia.

XTERRA Guam Championship
Piti, Guam
April 11, 2015
S 1.5k / MTB 30k / TR 11k

Results

Men

1. Ben Allen (AUS) 2:26:28
2. Bradley Weiss (RSA) 2:36:42
3. Takahiro Ogasawara (JPN) 2:40:17
4. Markus Benesch (AUT) 2:41:53
5. Charlie Epperson (USA) 2:44:36

Women

1. Carina Wasle (AUT) 2:44:21
2. Jacqui Slack (GBR) 2:44:51
3. Mieko Carey (JPN) 2:56:10
4. Daz Parker (GBR) 3:03:51
5. Renata Bucher (SUI) 3:09:16

Braden Currie, Suzie Snyder win XTERRA New Zealand

Braden Currie of New Zealand and Suzie Snyder of the United States won hard-earned, close victories at XTERRA New Zealand Saturday in Rotorua.

In the men’s race, Sam Osborne led the swim in 11:55, with Currie 2 seconds later and local favorite Olly Shaw one minute arrears. Currie took the lead on the bike until Shaw came blazing past at the half way mark. “Sam and Olly were killing it on the single track,” said Currie. “It was slick out there and a lot of mud - real challenging.”

Shaw posted the fastest bike split of the day – 1:11:01 - and had a 30 seconds lead on Currie starting the run. Currie passed Shaw 3 kilometers into the run and was cruising until Osborne charged into view.

“I was really lucky to see Sam because he was flying,” said Currie, who recharged to hold off Osborne. Osborne ran 40:40, the fastest run of the day, to finish second, just 13 seconds behind Currie.

“This is the most rewarding win I’ve had in a few years,” said Currie. “I haven’t been racing here for a few years because there has always been an adventure race in China on the same weekend. I’ve wanted to win this one since I started racing XTERRA. So I’m stoked to have got it. It’s an awesome race. It’s short, it’s fast and it hurts.”

Shaw held on for 3rd, 1:22 behind Osborne.

As an amateur, Suzie Snyder had a couple XTERRA World Championships and four national titles, but this was her first big win as a pro. “It feels awesome and it’s about time,” said Snyder. “It only took me 12 years.”

Snyder led the swim in 13:02, just 5 seconds ahead of Rachel Challis and 59 seconds ahead of Samantha Kingsford. Snyder and Challis rode together for half the mountain bike leg until Snyder pulled away with a women's-best 1:26:57 split that gave her a 1:49 lead at T2.

“That bike course was a ton of fun but gnarly in the mud,” said Snyder. “The real problem I had was staying focused because I just wanted to look around – it’s so beautiful out there.”

Snyder closed with a women's 2nd-best 50:52 trail run brought her to the finish in 2:32:29 and added 45 seconds to her lead on Challis. But Lizzie Orchard charged hard with a women's-best 48:33 run that brought her to 2nd place, 55 seconds short of the winner. Challis finished 3rd, 1:52 back of Orchard.

Paymark XTERRA New Zealand
Rotorua, New Zealand
April 11, 2015
S / MTB / TR

Results

Men

1. Braden Currie (NZL) 2:06:24
2. Sam Osborne (NZL) 2:06:37
3. Olly Shaw (NZL) 2:07:59
4. Aiden Dunster (NZL) 2:15:55
5. Josh Kenyon (NZL) 2:16:37

Women

1. Suzie Snyder (USA) 2:32:29
2. Lizzie Orchard (NZL) 2:33:24
3. Rachel Challis (NZL) 2:35:16
4. Sarah Backler (NZL) 2:37:35
5. Samara Sheppard (NZL) 2:39:10

Shawn Wilyman and Kristin Schwieger win age group overall titles at Florida 70.3

Shawn Wilyman of Canada and Kristin Schwieger of the U.S. win the overall titles at the age group only Ironman 70.3 Florida.

Wilyman combined a 28:00 swim, a 2:13:48 bike split and a 1:24:49 run to finish in 4:10:21 with a 1:56 margin over Cid Santos of Brazil and 5:59 over 3rd place finisher Alfredo Trujano of Panama.

Schwieger swam 29:11, biked 2:30:30 and ran 1:42:43 to finish in 4:46:58 with a 19 seconds margin over Emily Kratz and 1:05 over 3rd-place finisher Lauren Diaz.

While Kratz’s women's-best 1:32:15 run was 10 minutes and 28 seconds faster than the winner, her 35:15 swim and 2:34:37 bike split dug a hole her flying feet could not quite overcome.

Ironman 70.3 Florida
Haines City, Florida
April 12, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Shawn Wilyman (CAN) 4:10:32 *M25-29
2. Cid Santos (BRA) 4:12:28 *M30-34
3. Alfredo Trujano (PAN) 4:16:31 *M35-39
4. Andres Zimeri (GTM) 4:17:33 *M25-29
5. Austin Hardy (USA) 4:21:35 *M35-39

Women

1. Kristin Schwieger (USA) 4:46:58 *F40-44
2. Emily Kratz (USA) 4:47:17 *F35-39
3. Lauren Diaz (USA) 4:48:03 *F30-34
4. Heidi Benson (USA) 4:49:22 *F25-29
5. Britney Wilson (USA) 4:54:21 *F30-34