Courtney Atkinson’s 76-second bike breakaway with Aussie James Seear trumped New Zealander Kris Gemmell’s race-best run to give the 2008 Olympian his sixth career ITU World Cup win at Mooloolaba Sunday.
"That was an awful way to race, effectively on your own for the entire journey," said Atkinson to ITU media regarding his bike breakaway and from-the-front winning run. "It was tough for sure, but also hugely satisfying to win in that manner."
Atkinson, the 1999 ITU junior World Champion who finished 11th and top Aussie at the Beijing Olympics last August, joined Seear, brother of 2004 Aussie women’s Olympian Maxine Seear, and Joshua Amberger to get a gap in the river swim and break away at the start of the bike. After 20km, Atkinson and Seear dropped Amberger. The duo then worked hard to earn an 80-second cushion on 18 contenders, notably including Aussie Olympian Brad Kahlefeldt, two-time Olympian and 2008 Ironman 70.3 runner-up Andreas Raelert of Germany, French ITU contenders Laurent Vidal and David Hauss, New Zealand Olympian Shane Reed, Aussies Daniel Wilson and Gareth Halverson and US contenders Matt Chrabot and Ben Collins.
Immediately on the run, Atkinson dropped Seear and grimly settled in to hold off the onslaught of top runners. Gemmell led the big chase pack, pulling away from Oceania champ Kahlefeldt and French contenders Vidal and Hauss. By the fourth and final lap of the 10k run, Atkinson was visible to Gemmell and Kahlefeldt – but not in reach. At the finish, Atkinson’s 32:53 run was enough to hit the line in 1:52:05 and hold off Gemmell’s race-best 31:45 10k run by 12 seconds. Kahlefeldt’s third-best 32:23 run propelled him to third, 46 seconds behind the winner, while France’s David Hauss’s second-best 32:48 run advanced him from 20th off the bike to 4th at the finish, 33 seconds behind Kahlefeldt.
"I had no inkling that we would race like that today," Atkinson told ITU media. "To be honest, at no time did I think it was the right thing to do. But once committed we went for it."
Gemmell was delighted with his first race of the year, and praised Atkinson's tactical courage. "I love the way the race was won today, to see Courtney win it like that is great and he deserves the win."
Andreas Raelert, who set the Ironman world on edge with his second place finish at the Clearwater Ironman 70.3 World Championship and his dominating win at Ironman Arizona, kept his toe in the ITU Olympic distance game with an 8th place finish. But Raelert’s 33:05 10k looked more like a catered speed workout for his ultimate long course ambitions.
US triathletes Matt Chrabot and Ben Collins had encouraging performances. Chrabot’s 33:30 run wrapped up a 9th place finish out of 28 finishers, 1:57 off the winning time. Collins, the 2007 ITU Olympic distance age group overall world champion, closed with a 35:58 run to take 17th overall 4:22 off the winning pace.
Mooloolaba ITU World Cup
Mooloolaba, Australia
March 29, 2009
S 1.5k/ B 40k/R 10k
Results
Elite men
1. Courtney Atkinson AUS 1:52:05
2. Kris Gemmell NZL 1:52:17
3. Brad Kahlefeldt AUS 1:52:51
4. David Hauss FRA 1:53:24
5. Laurent Vidal FRA 1:53:30
6. Dan Wilson AUS 1:53:36
7. Andreas Raelert GER 1:53:41
8. Gareth Halverson AUS 1:53:50
9. Matt Chrabot USA 1:54:02
10. James Seear AUS 1:54:16
13. Shane Reed NZL 1:55:23
17. Ben Collins USA 1:56:28
