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Peter
Robertson Takes Second World Title
Queenstown,
New Zealand: For immediate release: A
jam-packed field of all the world's best triathlete assembled on the
start platform for the start of the Elite Men's 2003 ITU Triathlon World
Championships. The stunningly beautiful mountains surrounding Lake Hayes
provided the perfect backdrop for such a high quality field of athletes.
Richard Stannard of Britain moved to the front of the 1 lap, 1500 metre
swim, but was never able to get more than a body length of clearance
from the rest of the field. Stannard exited the swim first, but it was
Courtney Atkinson of Australia who was the first through the swim to
bike transition and onto the 7-lap 40km challenging bike course. There
were at least 50 athletes on his heels, all trying to catch the train.
Courtney Atkinson took it out alone for the first lap of the bike, with
a chase pack of all the who's who of triathlon in hot pursuit. Olivier
Marceau of Switzerland and Bevan Docherty of New Zealand led a breakaway
group from the chase pack and bridged up to Atkinson and by the start
of the 2nd lap there was a good working group of 7 at the front.
The lead group of 7 was caught on the 3rd lap, which created a huge
pack of 45 at the front. Hamish Carter of New Zealand tried to organise
a breakaway group, and with the challenge of the big hills, everyone
waited in anticipation of some action to breakup the big group.
The action came in spades on the 3rd lap when Australia's Peter Robertson
and Olivier Marceau (both former World Champions - 2001 for Robertson
and 2000 for Marceau) broke from the main pack and built up a 20 second
lead by the end of the lap.
The Kiwi connection of Hamish Carter, Beven Docherty and Craig Watson
tried several times to build the momentum to break from the lumbering
chase pack in an attempt to catch the leaders, but in the end their
efforts failed and by the start of the 4th lap the duo at the front
had a 28 second lead on the chasers.
Robertson and Marceau worked like a well-oiled machine at the front
and increased their lead to almost 2 minutes by the bike to run transition.
Their lead appeared to be insurmountable, given the running ability
of both athletes, and the only question remaining was, "Which former
world champion would add a second world title to their credits?"
Peter Robertson was through transition and onto the 4 lap 10km run course
with lightning speed, a full 5 seconds ahead of Olivier Marceau. The
gap to the chase pack was in excess of 1:58. Two desperate Aussies,
Brad Kahlefeldt and Courtney Atkinson, and two Kiwis, Kris Gemmell and
Hamish Carter, were the first ones from the big pack to enter the run
course.
At this point it was obvious that their race was for the final step
on the podium.By the end of the 1st lap, Robertson had a 9 second lead
on Marceau, as the defending World Champion, Ivan Rana of Spain surged
through the field into 3rd place ahead of Docherty, Atkinson, Simon
Whitfield of Canada and Greg Bennett of Australia.
Rana passed Marceau on the 3rd lap and moved to within 30 seconds of
Robertson, as Docherty and Carter were closing in on Marceau. With 1km
to go, time was running out on all attempts to catch the rabbit at the
front.
Peter Robertson won the 2003 Triathlon World Champion title in grand
style as Ivan Rana settled for second - the opposite to last year's
World Championship finish.
Olivier Marceau had his best finish since his 2000 Triathlon World Championship
title, as he held on for third. Places 4 to 6 went to the hometown heros
- Bevan Docherty, Hamish Carter and Craig Watson.
Top 10:
1. ROBERTSON, Peter, AUS, 1:54:13
2. RANA, Ivan, ESP, 1:54:37
3. MARCEAU, Olivier, SUI, 1:54:52
4. DOCHERTY, Bevan, NZL, 1:55:06
5. CARTER, Hamish, NZL, 1:55:17
6. WATSON, Craig, NZL, 1:55:39
7. RIEDERER, Sven, SUI, 1:55:39
8. BELAUBRE, Frederic, FRA, 1:55:40
9. ATKINSON, Courtney, AUS, 1:55:51
10. QUIRK, Bryce, AUS, 1:56:17
For more information, photos, videos, complete results, please visit
www.triathlon.org
For high resolution photos please contact ITU Media at:
Email: ituhdq@triathlon.org
Tel: 1.604 926 7250
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