Jason West, Sophie Chase win Surf City Escape
Young U.S. competitors Jason West and Sophie Chase won the $5,000 top prizes at the Surf City Escape Tri Olympic distance event in Huntington Beach, California.
Men
West started with a 1:26 deficit to Cameron Dye after the swim, lost another 55 seconds to Dye on the bike leg, then made up 7 seconds at T2. West then made up 2:22 on his fellow Boulder Coloradan with a race-best 31:13 run that brought him to the finish in 1:46:10 with an 8 seconds margin of victory on Dye (33:38 run) and 11 seconds on 3rd place finisher Eric Lagerstrom of the U.S. (32:26 run).
The victory adds to West’s growing résumé that includes 2017 wins at The Escape Philadelphia Triathlon and ITU Richmond Continental Cup, 3rd at the 2017 St. Anthony’s Triathlon, and a win at the 2015 USA Triathlon Collegiate Nationals.
Women
Chase, a rising 24-year-old U.S. triathlete who won three CAMTri Sprint American Cup races in the past year, led the women’s swim wave with a 19:25 split that gave her a 26 seconds lead on 37-year-old 2008 Olympian Sarah Haskins-Kortuem, 1:02 on Canadian Olympic triathlete Paula Findlay, 1:07 on Erika Ackerlund of the U.S., and 3:07 on Ironman World Championship 3rd place finisher Heather Jackson.
After a tied-for women’s best 59:14 bike split, Haskins-Kortuem took back 1:23 from Chase and led Chase and the rest of the women’s field out of T2.
Once she got settled in on the run, Chase then motored to a women's-best 36:21 10k run that was 1:23 better than Haskins-Kortuemm, propelling her to a 2:00:09 finish and a 30 seconds margin of victory over Haskins-Kortuem (37:44 run) and 49 seconds ahead of 3rd-place finisher Erika Ackerlund 37:28 run).
Surf City Escape Tri
Huntington Beach, California
April 22, 2018
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Results
Men
1. Jason West (USA) 1:46:10 – $5,000
2. Cameron Dye (USA) 1:46:18 – $2,000
3. Eric Lagerstrom (USA) 1:46:21 – $1,250
4. Matthew McElroy (USA) 1:48:26 – $1,000
5. Ryan Fisher (AUS) 1:49:36 – $500
6. Robby Webster (USA) 1:52:19 – $250
7. Timothy Winslow (USA) 1:52:33
8. Brian Duffy Jr. (USA) 1:52:44
9. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 1:55:46
10. Mark Tripp (USA) 1:56:42 * M35-39
Women
1. Sophie Chase (USA) 2:00:09 – $5,000
2. Sarah Haskins-Kortuem (USA) 2:00:39 – $2,000
3. Erika Ackerlund (USA) 2:00:58 – $1,250
4. Paula Findlay (CAN) 2:01:22 – $1,000
5. Heather Jackson (USA) 2:03:47 – $500
6. Sarah Alexander (USA) 2:07:44 – $250
7. Ellie Abrahamson (USA) 2:09:47
8. Carly Johann (USA) 2:09:56
9. Mary Alex England (USA) 2:13:46
