An Olympic rower won a Challenge half in Forster. A Colorado grad student won the Women’s Collegiate National title in Clermont. A Swiss long course superstar won a 70.3 in Western Australia. And an Aussie and a South African won bragging rights at a 70.3 in Willie Nelson country.

Todd Skipworth and Courtney Gilfillan prevail at Challenge Forster

Australians Todd Skipworth and Courtney Gilfillan took top honors at the half distance Challenge Forster on Sunday.

Former Olympic rower Skipworth combined a race-best swim, a second-fastest bike split and a race-best run to finish with a 5:01 margin of victory over fellow Aussie David Mainwaring. Triathlete and model Gilfillan combined a women’s 2nd-quickest swim, 3rd-best bike split and a women’s-fastest run to top multiple Ironman-distance winner Gina Crawford of New Zealand by a 2:13 margin of victory.

Men

Skipworth led the swim with a 23:38 split that gave him a 39 seconds lead on Matthew Pellow, 54 seconds on Shane Ilgen, 1:12 on Lindsey Wall and 1:15 on Mainwaring and Nicholas Hull. Pellow made a run at the lead with a race-best 2:10:47 bike split, but fell 5 seconds short of overtaking Skipworth and his 2:11:21 effort. After his 2:14:55 split, Mainwaring was 4:49 arrears.

Skipworth took all the drama out of the race with a race-best 1:15:44 half marathon that was 20 seconds better than Mainwaring and 6:07 better than Pellow. Skipworth finished in3:52:29 with a 5:01 margin on Mainwaring and 5:55 on 3rd-place finisher Pellow.

Women

Gina Crawford led the women's swim in 26:51 which gave her 1:02 lead on Gilfillan and 2:21 or more on the rest of the field. After the bike leg, Gilfillan’s 3rd-best 2:33:00 split and a faster transition brought her into T2 in a virtual tie with Crawford and roughly 2 minutes on 2-minutes-faster cyclists Jessica Mitchell and Holly Khan.

Gilfillan’s women's-fastest 1:25:09 run – 2 minutes better than Crawford - brought her to the finish in 4:28:47 with a 2:13 margin on Crawford and 6:27 on 3rd-place finisher Mitchell, who ran a 3rd-best 1:29:03.

Challenge Forster
Forster, Australia
November 7, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Todd Skipworth (AUS) 3:52:29
2. David Mainwaring (AUS) 3:57:30
3. Matthew Pellow (AUS) 3:58:24
4. Nicholas Hull (AUS) 3:58:56
5. Lindsey Wall (AUS) 4:03:59

Women

1. Courtney Gilfillan (AUS) 4:28:47
2. Gina Crawford (NZL) 4:31:00
3. Jessica Mitchell (AUS) 4:35:14
4. Holly Khan (AUS) 4:42:26 * F30’34
5. Michelle Pepperall (AUS) * F35-39

Abby Levene of Colorado University wins Women’s Collegiate Nationals

Abby Levene of Colorado University won her second national title of the year at the Women’s Collegiate National Championship at Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont. Florida.

Levene was part of an aggressive 8-woman chase pack that erased a 30-seconds deficit after the swim. Levene, the 2015 USAT Nationals overall women's champion, finished the sprint distance course in 1:02:39 with a 1:27 margin over runner-up Jocelyn Bonney of Queens University of Charlotte and 1:37 over 3rd-place finisher Marissa Ferrate of Stanford.

“I am so excited that triathlon is becoming an NCAA sport,” said Levene. “I am in grad school, so I envy those girls who are coming into college now.”

The field of 80 women competed in a draft-legal 750 meter swim, 20 kilometer bike and 5 kilometer run event that followed the format which has been proposed for use at the collegiate level when triathlon is granted official NCAA sport status.

Women’s Collegiate National Championship
Clermont, Florida
November 2015
S 750m / B 30k / R 5k

Results

Individual

1. Abby Levene (Colorado) 1:02:39
2. Jocelyn Bonney (Queens University of 3. Charlotte) 1:04:06
4. Marissa Ferrante (Stanford) 1:04:16
5. Melissa Rios La Luz (Webber International) 1:04:42
Varsity Team Overall

Queens University of Charlotte – 15 points
Marymount University – 22 points

Caroline Steffen and Denis Chevrot win Ironman 70.3 Mandurah

Denis Chevrot of France passed young Australian Jake Montgomery with 5 kilometers to go and Caroline Steffen of Switzerland dominated the women's field to take the pro titles at Ironman 70.3 Mandurah.

Men

Montgomery led the swim in 21:19 3 which earned him a 37 seconds lead on Chevrot and [re race favorite Terenzo Bozzone of New Zealand and 40 seconds on fellow Aussie Nicholas Kastelein and 47 seconds on Luke Bell.

Montgomery hammered the bike and held a 1:50 lead on Bell and Casey Munro, with Bozzone and Chevrot almost 3 minutes back. After a race-best 2:00:00 bike split, Montgomery arrived at T2 with a 3:25 lead on Bozzone and 5:27 on Chevrot while Bell dropped to 8th after a 3-minute stint in the penalty box.

On his way to a by-far-race-best 1:13:57 run split, Chevrot overtook Montgomery at 16km and finished in 3:45:38 with a 54 seconds margin of victory over Montgomery (1:20:21 run) and 1:47 on 3rd-place finisher Bozzone (1:18:16 run).

“Jake had a great race,” said Chevrot. “I had to work very hard to catch him.”

“I was pretty tired coming off the bike and when Dennis passed me I just didn’t have anything left,” said Montgomery, who recently made the switch from short course to the 70.3 circuit. “I’m pretty happy with second – it was great to get my first podium.”

Women

Steffen won wire-to-wire with women’s-best splits in the swim (23:50), bike leg (2:14:45) and run (1:23:27) to finish in 4:04:49.

Steffen left the water in 23:50 with a 3 seconds lead on Alise Farrelly, 59 seconds on Katey Gibb and 2:40 on strong cyclist and runner Yvonne Van Vlerken. Midway through the bike, Steffen led Gibb by 2:56 and Van Vlerken by 3:32. By T2, Steffen led by 4-plus minutes on Van Vlerken (2:16:21 bike split) and 6 minutes on Siddall of Great Britain (2:17:58 split).

Steffen cruised to the finish in 4:04:49 with a 5:24 advantage on Yvonne Van Vlerken of Netherlands (1:24:38 run) and 7:29 on 3rd-plac e finisher Laura Siddall of the United Kingdom (1:24:35 run).

Sun Smart Ironman 70.3 Mandurah
Mandurah, Australia
November 8, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Women

1. Caroline Steffen (SUI) 4:04:49
2. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 4:10:14
3. Laura Siddall (GBR) 4:12:18
4. Katey Gibb (AUS) 4:15:31
5. Alise Farrelly (AUS) 4:22:47

Men

1. Denis Chevrot (FRA) 3:45:39
2. Jake Montgomery (AUS) 3:46:33
3. Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) 3:47:26
4. Nicholas Kastelein (AUS) 3:50:52
5. Casey Munro (AUS) 3:55:28

Sam Appleton and Jeanni Seymour win Ironman 70.3 Austin

Australian Sam Appleton overcame the early lead of Andrew Starykowicz of the U.S. and South African Jeanni Seymour ran away from Lauren Barnett of the U.S. to win the elite titles at Ironman 70.3 Austin.

Men

Starykowicz led the swim with a 24:16 split which gave him a 2 seconds lead on fellow U.S. competitors Ben Collins and Brian Fleischmann of the U.S., 4 seconds on Paul Matthews of Australia, 5 seconds on Appleton and 7 seconds on Igor Amorelli of Brazil and James Hadley of Great Britain.

Starykowicz, the American Überbiker who recently posted a world-best for the 56-mile distance 1:56:11 bike split at Ironman 70.3 Miami, suffered a flat on the Texas Hill Country course which cost him time and left him with a decent but not up to his standards 2:08:38 bike split that was just 26 seconds better than Appleton and gave him a 20 seconds lead on the Australian, 4:31 on Amorelli (2:12:59 bike split) and 7:57 on Taylor Reid of Canada (2:14:44 bike split).

Because of time lost on with the flat, Starykowicz did not get the win but his 5th-best run earned him a 2nd-place finish. Just a mile into his race-best 1:14:24 run Appleton passed Starykowicz and never looked back as he finished first in 3:51:16. Starykowicz, on the strength of a very respectable 1:16:24 run arrived at the line just 1:43 back of the winner and 7:40 ahead of 3rd-place finisher Reid, who closed with a 1:16:33 run.

James Hadley closed with a 3rd-fastest 1:15:01 to finish 4th, 1:15 back of Reid and 24 seconds ahead of 5th-place finisher Amorelli.

Women

Rookie pro Heather Lendway led the women’s swim wave with a 25:05 split which gave her a 3 seconds lead on Camille Donat of France and Erin Dolan of the U.S., 1:55 on Corrie Kristick of the U.S. 1:57 on Seymour, 3:02 on rookie pro Kristen Marchant of Canada 4:08 on Lauren Barnett of the U.S. and 5:10 on Corinne Abraham of the UK.

Lendway kept a lead through the bike leg, but entering T2 she was closely trailed by Lauren Barnett (+5 seconds – race-best 2:30:03 bike split) and Seymour (+9 seconds – 2:32:10 bike split), Ewa Komander of Poland (+1:35 – 2:31:52 bike split) and Corinne Abraham (+3:37 – 2:32:19 bike split).

At 3.2 miles of the run, Seymour grabbed the lead with a 19 seconds lead on Barnett, 1:05 on Lendway, 4:45 on Komander and 4:49 on Abraham.

After a women’s-best 1:21:03 run, Seymour finished in 4:23:48 with a 2:55 margin of victory over Barnett (1:23:48 run) and 5:38 on 3rd-place finisher Abraham (2nd-best 1:22:47 run). After a 1:27:39 run, early leader Lendway finished 4th, 6:50 behind the winner.

Ironman 70.3 Austin
Austin, Texas
November 8, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

Sam Appleton (AUS) 3:51:16
Andrew Starykowicz (USA) 3:52:59
Taylor Reid (CAN) 4:00:39
James Hadley (GBR) 4:01:54
Igor Amorelli (BRA) 4:02:18

Women

1. Jeanni Seymour (RSA) 4:23:48
2. Lauren Barnett (USA) 4:26:43
3. Corinne Abraham (GBR) 4:29:26
4. Heather Lendway (USA) 4:30:38
5. Jessica Jones Meyers (USA) 4:37:03