What happens when you put a bunch of the world’s best long distance athletes in the water off Alcatraz Island, then send them on a hilly bike course overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge (not that you could see it very well in all the fog), then have them finish their day with a speedy, flat run? You get some incredibly exciting racing. We recap the inaugural T100 San Francisco race:
Ben Kanute and Rico Bogen finish the swim in the lead and start the long sprint to T1. (After the beach there’s another 500 m of running to the bikes.) The down-current swim saw the two leaders average 43 seconds/ 100 m. That’s the famous Alcatraz Island, with its infamous prison, in the background.Sam Long is all smiles as he exits the water less than a minute behind the leaders.Imogen Simmonds made all the right moves in the swim and exited the water in first. Because the water was so cold, athletes were encouraged to wear booties and gloves.Germany’s Rico Bogen was at or near the front of the race from the gun.Taylor Knibb was the fastest on the bike and didn’t give up any ground on the speedy descents.Like Knibb, Canada’s Paula Findlay has also won a national time trial championship – in fact she’s the two-time defending champion in Canada.The duel for the top American – Rudy Von Berg, left, slips past Sam Long on one of the fast descents.Then there were three. It’s Bogen’s turn to push the pace at the front, with Kyle Smith marking his move and Marten Van Riel hanging a bit behind.
The loneliness of the dominant runner. The upside of Taylor Knibb’s almost four-minute win was that she could take in some of the fantastic scenery and sights along the course.Then there were three … again. It’s Kyle Smith’s turn to push the pace ahead of Rico Bogen and Marten Van Riel.Australian Ashleigh Gentle thrives in hot-weather races – the race in San Francisco was anything but warm on race day. She would run her way to seventh.After getting DQd at Ironman Hamburg for passing in a non-passing zone, Kat Matthews had an outstanding race and finished second.Tamara Jewett would have the day’s fastest run – 1:05:31, which was enough to move her to 10th.
A photo finish sees Marten Van Riel, right, take the win by .23 of a second over Kyle Smith.Bogen was suffering as he crossed the line in third.All smiles for Taylor Knibb as she dominates another long-distance race.
Photo by:
Kevin Mackinnon
