Ironman St George winner Heather Wurtele placed second at Ironman Canada, less than 4-minutes behind the winner. Heather kept the race close throughout the bike and run but just came up a bit short as she looks to win the Ironman in her home country.
Rebekah Keat of teamTBB won her second Ironman-distance race in two weeks, with a comfortable 11-minute win at the brutally hot Ironman Louisville. The Australian superstar doesn’t race often in the US, but she made the most of this trip, using Ironman Louisville as a long training day in preparation for the Ironman World Championships. Two weeks ago, Keat was crowned champion of Challenge Copenhagen.
Canadian Catharine Pendrel of the AVIA-sponsored Luna Pro Mountain Bike team won the UCI World Cup Cross Country race in Windham, New York. With the victory, she became only the third Canadian to be crowned the UCI World Cup Series Champion. The Canadian National Champion was the 4th place finisher at the Beijing Olympics and also won the World Cup stop in Offenberg, Germany. Teammate Georgia Gould finished fourth in the overall standings with her 3rd place finish in Windham.
Magali Tisseyre continues to dominate the Ironman 70.3 series, adding another win at the Cobra Ironman 70.3 Philippines. She shadowed former World Champion Michellie Jones throughout the swim and bike before outrunning her for the 2-minute victory.
Canadian Angela Naeth won the race within the race as she placed a solid 2nd at the Timberman 70.3 in New Hampshire. She finished well back of reigning Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington, but had the day’s fastest bike split, giving her a comfortable cushion over the rest of the field.
The Embrunman Triathlon in France is considered by many to be the toughest iron-distance race in the world, but it was easily tamed by teamTBB’s Tereza Macel. Tez took the lead on the swim, crushed the alpine ride, and ran home to a 40-minute victory. James Cunnama of teamTBB was one of only two athletes to break the 10-hour barrier as he finished in the runner-up spot.
Rebekah Keat of teamTBB overcame a terrible crash in the early stages of the bike leg to dominate the Challenge Copenhagen iron-distance race. Bek lost traction on the wet roads and went down. With a mangled bike and bloody leg and arm, she decided to solider on. She ended up crushing the 112-mile bike in 4:48 and going sub-9 hours again (8:54) for the Ironman distance. On the men’s side, teamTBB teammate Keegan Williams was hit by a car with just 5km left in the bike. He quickly rebounded and ran his way into a very impressive 2nd place.
Three-time XTERRA World Champion Melanie McQuaid grabbed an impressive win at the Lake Stevens 70.3 near Everett, Washington. The off-road specialist has been racing on the roads in preparation for the XTERRA World Championships later this year and has already nailed a number of top five finishes. Using her superior bike strength, Melanie took the lead on the hilly bike course and never looked back. Her only challenge came very late in the race by fellow AVIA teammate, Tyler Stewart of Team Luna, who finished just 20secs behind Melanie.
Events
Olympic Distance: 1500m Swim, 40 Km bike, 10 Km run.
Sprint Distance: 700m Swim, 27 Km bike, 5 Km run.
Divisions
Age Group
The minimum age to participate in this event is 14.
Open
The open division is exists for the fastest participants. The idea is to let the pros and elite age groupers compete against each other, regardless of age, and to therefore make the age group waves a little more friendly. The divison is open to men who have completed a full olympic distance triathlon in under 2:10, and to women who have completed an olympic in under 2:20. Please email info@highfiveevents.com to request to be placed in the open division.
Olympic Relay
The Relay division is available to 3 person teams in the Olympic Distance event. Relay teams will be issued one timing chip which they will pass from teammate to teammate. Relay teams must come to the Expo together to pick up their packets and each team members must have a valid USAT license. Relays are available in the male, female, and co-ed categories.
Prize Purse
A $5000 prize purse available to participants in the open wave. Pros and Age Groupers may compete for the prize purse, but they must participate in the open wave. USAT Age Group rules will be enforced. The breakdown is as follows:
1st = $1200
2nd = $700
3rd = $300
4th = $200
5th = $99.99
Team TBB’s Caroline Steffen earned her first World Championship by crushing the women’s field at the ITU Long Distance World Championships in Germany. Caroline posted the fastest swim-bike combo and 2nd fastest run to beat the field by nearly 12 minutes.
