Paula Findlay rises to the top in Sarasota
Andrew Yorke takes fourth in the men's race.
Edmonton’s Paula Findlay brought home gold at the ITU Pan American Cup in Sarasota, Florida.
Findlay trailed the lead women (the USA’s Sara McLarty – 18:31 and Spain’s Carolina Routier -18:32) out of the water (18:51), but soon brought herself up to the front on the bike by working with American Alicia Kaye (Kaye rode 1:01:01 and Findlay 1:01:02). However, once on the 10 km run Findlay easily broke away with a split of 36:51 for the win in 1:57:51. Canadians Joanna Brown and Amelie Kretz had the second (35:18) and third (35:51) best runs respectively to finish fourth and fifth.
“Cool I won a triathlon! Best feeling ever,” said Paula Finday on Twitter. She also attached the picture above with her tweet.
“I don’t want to get ahead of myself. It was a not a huge race in the big picture, but it feels so good to win again,” said Findlay to Triathlon Canada. “I’ve been dreaming of winning again, and being the one to raise the finish banner. I was at such an ultra-low that I honestly didn’t know if it would ever happen again. Ultimately I want to win much bigger races, but this is another small stepping stone in my long rebuild.”
“It was really important for me to do the Olympic distance race this weekend before San Diego,” said Findlay. “The Olympic distance you just have to be prepared to hurt a little more. I was unsure if I was ready for San Diego, but winning today definitely gives me a little more confidence.”
Elite Women
1 Paula Findlay CAN 01:57:51
2 Carolina Routier ESP 01:58:12
3 Vendula Frintova CZE 01:58:44
4 Joanna Brown CAN 01:58:50
5 Amelie Kretz CAN 01:59:24
DNF Dominika Jamnicky CAN
DNF Isabelle Rouleau CAN
In contention for the podium for most of the race, Caledon’s Andrew Yorke ran the final 10 km in 31:24 and that put him just ten seconds behind Portugal’s Miguel Arraiolos for fourth place (1:45:18). Portugal’s Joao Pereira took the victory (1:44:33).
“I’m feeling really good with these early season results because I’m way ahead of where I’ve been in year’s past at this point,” said Yorke to Triathlon Canada. “The pieces are coming together, now I just have to do the hard specific training that is going to <increase my speed>. I’m steadily improving and feel like I’m at a tipping point where I can really make some big jumps in the next six-to-eight months.”
Elite Men
1 Joao Pereira POR 01:44:33
2 Tommy Zaferes USA 01:44:35
3 Miguel Arraiolos POR 01:45:08
4 Andrew Yorke CAN 01:45:18
5 Conor Murphy IRL 01:45:42
11 Matt Vierula CAN 01:47:12
15 Andrew McCartney CAN 01:48:36
20 John Rasmussen CAN 01:50:39
27 Antoine Jolicoeur-Desroches CAN 01:53:35
29 Taylor Reid CAN 01:56:13
30 Philippe Tremblay CAN 02:02:51
DNF Francis Lefebvre CAN
DNF Alexander Vanderlinden CAN
