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Men
Six-time Escape champion Andy Potts and several top swimmers like Josh Amberger, Kevin Collington and Greg Bennett were swept 2 minutes out of contention by misreading the current and choosing the wrong line of the swim. So non-drafting swim and bike master Cameron Dye took off on the challenging bike course to a day’s best 45:23 split that gave him a 40 seconds lead over 2016 U.S. Olympian Ben Kanute, 1:40 over fellow Olympian Joe Maloy, and 2:17 over defending champion Eric Lagerstrom at T2. After losing 2 minutes on the swim, Potts threw down a 3rd-best 46:18 ride that left him 2:45 arrears starting the run, nearly even with rising Mexican pavement star Mauricio Mendez.
Six-time Escape champion Andy Potts and several top swimmers like Josh Amberger, Kevin Collington and Greg Bennett were swept 2 minutes out of contention by misreading the current and choosing the wrong line of the swim. So non-drafting swim and bike master Cameron Dye took off on the challenging bike course to a day’s best 45:23 split that gave him a 40 seconds lead over 2016 U.S. Olympian Ben Kanute, 1:40 over fellow Olympian Joe Maloy, and 2:17 over defending champion Eric Lagerstrom at T2. After losing 2 minutes on the swim, Potts threw down a 3rd-best 46:18 ride that left him 2:45 arrears starting the run, nearly even with rising Mexican pavement star Mauricio Mendez.
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Taking well to the rugged and hilly run course that rewards a strong athlete, Dye held the lead past the deep sand at Baker Beach and the strength-sapping sand ladder climb at Mile 5. Maintaining a 5th-best pace and the lead through Crissy Field, Dye finally surrendered up to the ITU star Maloy with a mile to go. After a race-best 42:48 split for the 8-mile run, Maloy finished in 2:05:44 with an 11 seconds margin of victory over Dye (45:53 run) and 1:24 over U.S. Olympian Ben Kanute, who closed with a 6th-best 46:15 run.
Defending champion Eric Lagerstrom, slowly but surely recovering from a leg injury, ran a 2nd-best 45:27 split to take 4th, 47 seconds behind Kanute. Andy Potts ran 45:41 to take 5th place, 45 seconds behind Lagerstrom.
Women
Almost all of the contending women had trouble with the puzzling currents. No pro was worse than former Escape Champion Heather Jackson, who emerged from the 61-degree Bay in 40:03, just behind equally baffled XTERRA World Champ Lesley Paterson (39:38). They were 8 minutes behind swim leaders Katie Zaferes (32:05) and former Escape champion Sarah Haskins (32:06), and 5 minutes back of ITU veteran Lindsey Jerdonek and 70.3 star Lauren Goss.
Defending champion Eric Lagerstrom, slowly but surely recovering from a leg injury, ran a 2nd-best 45:27 split to take 4th, 47 seconds behind Kanute. Andy Potts ran 45:41 to take 5th place, 45 seconds behind Lagerstrom.
Women
Almost all of the contending women had trouble with the puzzling currents. No pro was worse than former Escape Champion Heather Jackson, who emerged from the 61-degree Bay in 40:03, just behind equally baffled XTERRA World Champ Lesley Paterson (39:38). They were 8 minutes behind swim leaders Katie Zaferes (32:05) and former Escape champion Sarah Haskins (32:06), and 5 minutes back of ITU veteran Lindsey Jerdonek and 70.3 star Lauren Goss.
