A
talented women's field of 38 competitors from 16 countries
stayed tightly grouped over two laps in the choppy,
17-degree temperatures of Lake D'Apigne, with just
nine seconds separating the first nine out of the
water - a cosmopolitan group including Italian Silvia
Gemignani, Joelle Franzmann from Germany, American
Siri Lindley, Australian Liz Blatchford and Lucie
Zelenkova from the Czech Republic.
Following
a 500-metre sprint to the first transition, the field
quickly split into two packs for the flat, technical
40-kilometre bike, with the 2000 World Duathlon Silver
medallist Lindley and Joelle Franzmann settling into
the front of the lead group of eight.
The
chase pack stayed around 50 seconds behind the leaders
throughout the ride as wind-speed and temperatures
rose. Franzmann, Lindley and Blatchford were first
out of the second transition onto the five-lap, ten-kilometre
lakeside run.
Blatchford
quickly dropped back into the spread-out field, leaving
Franzmann 30-seconds behind race leader Lindley heading
into lap three, while Michelle Dillon (GBR) continued
to make up ground fast.
Run
specialist Dillon overtook Franzmann in the third
lap, but despite a strong challenge was unable to
improve on second place, leaving fellow run specialist
Siri Lindley with a strong finish and 50 seconds to
spare. Cycle specialist, Franzmann was happy with
third against the stronger runners in the field.
Predicted
late-afternoon thunderstorms failed to materialize
and the men's race began in similar conditions to
the women's, with a strong field of 73 including former
World Champion Dimitry Gaag (KAZ), last year's World
Junior Champion Frederic Belaubre (FRA), Britain's
top ranked athlete, Andrew Johns, together with Ivan
Rana (ESP) and Craig Watson (NZL) who finished first
and second last month in Ishigaki, Japan.
It
was impossible to separate the men throughout the
swim and into transition one, with Belaubre, Rana,
Watson, Switerland's Reto Hug, Australian Trent Chapman
and the Bignet brothers, Stefan and Franck from France
coming strongly into the ride to join a 16-man leading
pack.
By
the start of lap three, the chase pack - including
Gaag - were more than a minute behind and after strong
teamwork from the leaders, the gap was up to 2 minutes
11 seconds by lap seven.
With
two kilometres to go, Belaubre, Chapman and World
number 32, Ukrainian Andrey Glushenko, led the riders
into the second transition.
Glushenko,
Watson, Hug, Kris Gemmell (NZL) and Chapman started
well in the run, with Spain's Rana making up ground
with every stride. However the pace soon took its
toll on Gemmell and Glushenko as they fell off the
pace - leaving a leading pack comprising Hug, Watson,
Johns, Poulat and Rana with a stranglehold on the
final lap. Watson eventually finished a comfortable
winner, with Johns claiming another second for Britain,
matching Michelle Dillon's success in the women's
event. Hug beat off a late challenge from Rana to
take third.
Pictures
are available on the Allsport website: www.Allsportuk.Allsport.co.uk
or www.Allsport.com
For
further information please contact Julia Micklewright:
Tel: + 44 7879 420 906
Email: julia.micklewright@sportsworld.net
Men's
Results - Women's
Results
