Simon Thompson won the 2008 edition of the 5430 long course triathlon with a fantastic closing run. Joanna Zeiger ruled supreme in the women's event and led the race from start to finish.
Tim O’Donnell was first among the men out of the water, but Brian Fleischmann managed to get first into T1. These 2 athletes were followed closely by Paul Matthews, Stephen Hackett and Bryan Rhodes.
Once on the bike, O'Donnell pushed a hard pace and slowly gained time on all his pursuers. By the time he hit T2, O'Donnell was 2:37 up on Matthews and Hackett, with Fleischmann another minute adrift. Next into T2 were Joe Gambles at 5:40 and Simon Thompson at 6:30.
Thompson quickly impressed all spectators with his blazing 1:11:59 run and along the way caught all guys in front of him, including O'Donnell barely 500 yards from the finish line. O'Donnell managed to hold on to second place and Fleischmann rounded out the podium.
Joanna Zeiger had a monster swim and was out of the water well in front of any other female.
Zeiger continued her assault on the bike and further distanced the competition with her 2:20:45 bike split. Angela Naeth had the fastest bike split among the women, but she had lost almost 10 minutes to Zeiger in the water and would enter T2 in 2nd place. Next into T2 was Fiona Docherty.
The huge lead allowed Zeiger to cruise uncontested to the win and a super fast run by Docherty gave her the second place. Third fastest pro was Naeth, but the third fastest finisher was age grouper Brooke Davison.
5430 Long Course Triathlon / Boulder, CO / August 10, 2008
1.2m swim / 56m bike / 13.1m run
Top 10 men
1. Simon Thompson (AUS) 3:50:43
2. Tim O’Donnell (USA) 3:51:16
3, Brian Fleischmann (USA) 3:52:02
4. Paul Matthews (AUS) 3:53:48
5. Joe Gambles (USA) 3:56:12
6. Stephen Hackett (AUS) 3:58:45
7. Joe McDaniel (USA) 3:59:46
8, Chris McDonald (AUS) 4:00:33
9. Jordan Jones (USA) 4:02:07
10. Josh Merrick (USA) 4:05:06
Top 10 women
1. Joanna Zeiger (USA) 4:18:07
2. Fiona Docherty (NZL) 4:22:38
3. Brooke Davison (USA) 4:24:14 *
4. Angela Naeth (USA) 4:27:03
5. Katherine Baker (USA) 4:28:46
6. Heather Gollnick (USA) 4:32:38
7. Emily Finanger (USA) 4:36:43
8. Tracy Thelen (USA) 4:38:20 *
9. Uli Bromme (USA) 4:41:21 *
10. Karen Melliar-Smith (USA) 4:41:46
* = AG athlete
