Andrew Yoder and Jenna Parker took home $4,500 best checks while beating strong fields at the $30,000, non-drafting Giant Eagle Triathlon in Columbus, Ohio.
Yoder, the baby-faced killer cyclist of immense potential who has been working hard to shore up his swim and run, used a 5th-best swim and a way-out-in-front 51:25 bike to build a 3:41 lead -- just enough lead to hold off Kaleb VanOrt’s race-best 31:32 run and eke out a 13-seconds margin of victory. Yoder, a Mozart of the bike at just 22 years of age, showed all the hard work he’s put in at the pool paid off as his 17:05 split out-swam VanOrt by a crucial 51 seconds. Crucial because Yoder’s lagging 4th-best 34:54 run gave back a whopping 3 minutes 22 seconds to the tall and rangy VanOrt – but not enough to surrender the victory.
Super swimmer Eric Limkemann combined a 2nd-best 16:59 swim [to Dustin McLarty’s race-best 16:39] added a 4th-best 55:12 bike and a 7th-best 35:11 run to hit the line in 1:48:07, 4:13 back of Yoder, for third place.
In the women’s race, Jenna Parker emerged from the swim in 4th, 19 seconds behind Pip Taylor’s race-best 18:18 split, and 1:23 ahead of always-dangerous Nicole Kelleher’s 20 minutes flat swim. That’s because Kelleher, the 2010 USA Triathlon Collegiate National Champion, went all-in on the bike with a race-best 58:56 which carved back 20 seconds from Parker’s lead on the bike. Parker then gained back a critical 6 seconds in transition giving her a 1:09 advantage starting the run.
Parker needed most of it, as Kelleher posted a 2nd-best 37:10 run which cut precisely 60 seconds off Parker’s 10k effort. At the tape, Parker finished in 1:56:28 with a 9-seconds advantage over Kelleher. Annie Warner of Nine-Mile Falls Washington combined a three 3rd-best splits – a 18:33 swim, a 1:00:44 bike and a 37:14 run to take third in 1:57:07 – 39 seconds back of Parker.
Caitlin Snow posted a race-best 36:32 run to come back from a so-so 19:45 swim and
5th-best 1:00:58 bike to take 4th place in 1:57:50.
The legendary 2-time ITU World Champion and Ironman World Champion Karen Smyers placed 10th.
Giant Eagle Triathlon
Columbus, Ohio
July 31, 20p11
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Results
Men
1. Andrew Yoder (USA) 1:43:54 - $4,500
2. Kaleb VanOrt (USA) 1:44:07 - $3,000
3. Eric Limkemann (USA) 1:48:07 - $2,500
4. Tony White (USA) 1:48:36 - $2,000
5. John Kenny (USA) 1:49:25 - $1,500
6. Joe McDaniel (USA) 1:50:19 - $1,000
7. Dustin McLarty (USA) 1:50:29 - $500
8. Brooks Cowan (USA) 1:50:39
9. Daniel Bretscher (USA) 1:51:28
10. Kyle Lee (USA) 1:52:35
Women
1. Jenna Parker (USA) 1:56:28 - $4,500
2. Nicole Kelleher (USA) 1:56:37 - $3,000
3. Annie Warner (USA) 1:57:07 - $2,500
4. Caitlin Snow (USA) `1:57:50 - $2,000
5. Pip Taylor (AUS) 1:59:34 - $1,500
6. Abby Geurink ( ) 2:01:15 - $1,000
7. Malaika Homo (USA) 2:01:59 - $500
8. Lauren Goldstein-Kral (USA) 2:03:41
9. Amy Kloner (USA) 2:05:17
10. Karen Smyers (USA) 2:07:15
