Jason West and Lucy Byram run their way to wins at Clash Miami
Both the men’s and women’s races at Clash Miami featured some close racing today as Great Britain’s Lucy Byram proved her states as one of her country’s most promising new long-distance athletes, and American Jason West put together an incredible run to take the men’s title.
Byram solid from start to finish
As is usual at any event she attends that doesn’t include Lucy Charles-Barclay in the mix, Spain’s Sara Perez Sala led the women out of the water, with Brazil’s Pamella Oliveira about 30 seconds behind. Byram was part of a group that included Dane Sif Bendix Madsen and American Haley Chura, who were all about 50 seconds behind the Spanish leader.
Bendix Madsen would power to the front of the bike, but Byram marked her moves to the front and the two were well clear of Perez Sala and Oliveira into T2. The Dane would take the prime for getting out of T2 in first, but it wasn’t long before Byram had moved into the lead. While Oliveira would post one of the day’s fastest runs to get herself to third and put pressure on Byram and Bendix Madsen, the pair were able to stay clear, with Byram taking the win in 2:59:16, Madsen hanging tough for second in 3:00:33 and Oliveira nailing third in 3:01:38. Perez Sala would be passed by Chura with a few laps of the run to go, but the Spaniard stayed on the American’s shoulder and would take the sprint for fourth (3:03:52), with Chura taking fifth in 3:04:07.
West runs to the win
Norway’s Jurgen Gundersen led the way out of the water with Daniel Baekkegard and four others, including West, close behind. The Norwegian led the men out of the water to take the $1,000 prime, but shortly after the start of the ride Brit Thomas Bishop flew to the front.
Sanders and Long were over two minutes back out of the water and, while they would move through the rest of the men ahead of them, they couldn’t make a dent in Bishop’s lead. Sanders appeared to be making a move towards the front of the chase group that included Baekkegard and David McNamee with a few laps to go when he crashed and would be forced out of the race.
By the time Bishop was done the 39-mile bike, he was two minutes up on a group that included Long, Baekkegard and McNamee, with West in seventh, 3:40 down.
Out on the run Bishop appeared to be holding on early, but West pushed really hard through the first few laps of the race to get himself within a minute of the lead. A second surge saw him catch Bishop with a lap and a half to go, and he never looked back, taking the win in 2:35:32 after a 51:14 run. Bishop held on for second (2:36:08), while Baekkegard (2:37:04) held off Long (2:37:19) for third. McNamee rounded out the top-5 in 2:37:45.
