Bend, Oregon residents Jesse Thomas and Heather Jackson defended their titles at the 31st annual Wildflower long course triathlon today.
The Men
Thomas completed a rare Wildflower three-peat, following his 2011 and 2012 wins with a victory that came after a hard-fought duel with Leon Griffin of Australia, the 2006 ITU Duathlon World Champion. Thomas, Griffin and Joe Gambles chased down swim and early bike leader Clayton Fettell at Mile 35 of the bike then pulled away to arrive at T2 together.
Gambles fell off the pace at Mile 3 of the rugged trail run section, but Thomas and Griffin stuck stubbornly together until they began a long downhill at Mile 9
"I don’t know how exactly, but I just sort of eased into a lead going into the run turnaround at Mile 10," recalled Thomas.
"I have short legs and Jesse's are long," said Griffin. "I just couldn’t match his long strides."
Thomas finished in 4:02:19 with a race-best 1:15:12 half marathon that gave him a 1:17 winning margin over Griffin. Gambles, who was fading at the end, held on with a 2nd-best recorded run of 1:17:36 to finish 3rd, 2:25 back of Thomas and 1:08 behind Griffin.
Thomas was 3:20 slower than his 2012 winning time but rated his performance better due to race conditions.
"The water was 71 degrees and elites could not use wetsuits," said Thomas. "That's tough on me - the swim is my weakest leg. Then the temperatures were hotter and the winds were stronger. Plus the competition was stronger. I got out of the water with Leon and posted a faster bike and run than the 2006 ITU World Duathlon Champion," said Thomas. "That feels pretty good to me."
The Women
Heather Jackson came to the defense of her Wildflower title on a hot streak - she won Ironman 70.3 California and took down ITU star Sarah Groff to win Escape From Alcatraz.
But through a 1.2 mile swim, a 56-mile bike and 3 miles of the run, Jackson was chasing Australian long shot Kat Baker and had doubts that she would prevail.
Tenille Hoogland and Trish Deim came out of the swim first in 27:02, trailed 28 seconds later by Kat Baker of Australia (27:30), then Emily Cocks (27:55), Carrie Lester of Australia (28:35). Jackson trailed the leader by 2:53.
Baker, an accomplished cyclist, took over the lead on the strength of a race-best 2:32:22 bike split.
Jackson's second-fastest 2:34:37 bike split left her 4:40 down at T2. With none of the other contenders able to crack 2:40 on the bike, the run would settle what had become a 2-woman contest.
"At that point, I wasn't at all sure my run could bring me the win," said Jackson.
That was a big concession coming from a woman who ran 1:17 to win at Oceanside 70.3 in March. "But at Mile 3, I heard I was just down by 47 seconds and I was encouraged."
Jackson zoomed past Baker at Mile 4 and the race was hers unless she ran into an unforeseen catastrophe.
At the finish. Jackson's race-fastest 1:26:03 run split was 10:41 better than Baker's and gave the defending champion a 6 minutes 41 seconds margin of victory.
Jackson's overall time of 4:33:20 was 6:51 slower than her impressive performance last year. But, she said, meeting the pressure to repeat meant even more to her.
Elizabeth Lyles of Reno, Nevada, who earned her first Ironman win at Wisconsin last year with a sizzling 2:59:34 run, took third in 4:48:00, closing with a 2nd-fastest 1:27:49 run.
Wildflower Long Course Triathlon
Lake San Antonio, California.
May 3, 2013
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Elite Men
1. Jesse Thomas (USA) 4:02:19
2. Leon Griffin (AUS) 4:03:36
3. Joe Gambles (AUS) 4:04:44
4. Jeffrey Symonds (CAN) 4:07:59
5. Josiah Middaugh (USA) 4:14:04
6. Chris Bagg (USA) 4:15:30
7. Matt Lieto (USA) 4:15:56
8. Matthew Russell (USA) 4:16:08
9. Grant Burwash (CAN) 4:19:29
10. Karl Bordine (USA) 4:20:11
Elite Women
1. Heather Jackson (USA) 4:33:20
2. Kat Baker (AUS) 4:40:01
3. Elizabeth Lyles (USA) 4:48:00
4. Jennifer Tetrick (USA) 4:50:33
5. Tenille Hoogland (CAN) 4:50:51
6. Emily Cocks (USA) 4:54:46
7. Rachel Challis (USA) 4:57:37
8. Carrie Lester (AUS) 5:01:087
9. Trish Deim (USA) 5:04:17
10. Janelle Morrison (CAN) 5:04:44
