Goss, Lawrence capture wins, and Kanute, Reed podium as the tri team completes a successful weekend around the globe.
Lauren Goss prevails in Mexico
Lauren Goss has been tearing it up in the early season, taking her second win in as many races after winning Ironman 70.3 Lima in April. Despite her win nearly a month ago, Goss came into Ironman 70.3 Monterrey race feeling ill-prepared and decided to use the race for training purposes and no pressure to perform. However, her residual fitness and mental toughness pushed her to come out on top, and she broke through the finish tape first.
The past month has been tough for me. After Lima 70.3 a month ago, I had a very sharp pain in my ankle. I thought it was a stress fracture, turns out it wasn’t, and we still don’t really know what it was, but it put me out of running for 3 weeks. I pulled out of St. Anthony’s and Vietnam 70.3 with intentions of resting and healing up for the rest of the season. Last week my coach and I decided I should race Monterrey as a training day with no taper and just for a learning experience. Well, the day unfolded just to be that! So many mental battles.
Goss talked us through her race:
“My goggles popped and I was swimming no goggles, trying to be tough and stay in the front of the race. I did not exit first as I had planned and that kind of messed with my head! On the bike, I felt pretty tired and I also had a mechanical. I kept pushing through and came off in the lead. Onto the run, I had no idea what to expect. I ended up having a great run until the last 5km where I was feeling the time off. It is amazing what the body can do when the mind stays positive and in the game. The mind is insane! As I continue in this sport, I’m realizing this game is 70% mental. I am so happy to walk away with the win after having a less than ideal lead up.”
Goss took over the lead during the bike leg and never looked back.
Honorable mention goes to Trek Factory Racing's Linsey Corbin who finished in 4th place.
Linsey Corbin during the bike leg.
Holly Lawrence wins in Vietnam; Tim Reed surprises with third
Holly Lawrence has been nothing short of spectacular, taking her third successive win of the year Sunday as she dominated Ironman 70.3 Vietnam. Lawrence led from start to finish and took the win in a record time of 4:04:41.
I am so happy to take the Asia-Pacific Championship title after leading wire to wire. Two regional championship titles, eight days apart, and two course-records!
Holly Lawrence pictured here in Oceanside, where she finished 2nd.
“I wasn’t sure how I’d fare so close off the back of St George and being such hot and humid conditions here in Vietnam, but the day couldn’t have gone better,” explained Lawrence. “I put a gap to the others in the swim and managed to extend it on the bike even though the three women behind me were working together. By the time I came into T2, I knew I had around five minutes to Sarah Crowley, so I just ran strong thinking I may fade due to the heat at some point. I wanted to save a bit in case the gap got closed towards the end, but I still managed to finish with quite a big gap around four minutes, and take the tape and the course record.”
In the men’s elite race, Tim Reed was astonished that he could muster a podium performance so soon after completing an Ironman. Reed competed in the Ironman Australia on May 5th where he finished in second place.
Racing a week after an Ironman is far from healthy, but I’m here to stick by my initial commitments, expand my pain tolerance, and really enjoy the recovery days either side of the event in Da Nang.
Reed put in an incredible performance in the bike leg on his Speed Concept, opening a significant gap on his competitors, which enabled him to hold on in the run and finish on the podium.
“I really surprised myself with a third at the Ironman 70.3 Asia Pacific championships,” said Reed. “With an Ironman last week, I knew I wouldn’t be able to compete on the run with such a quality field, so I stayed aggressive on the bike and managed to get a gap of a little over 2mins on the field by the end of the 90km ride. I was reeled in on the run but managed to hang tough for a 3rd place finish. Huge congrats to Patrick Lange and Tim van Berkel for 1st and 2nd. Thank you to all those behind this race. It’s been amazing to watch the progression of this event into a world class race.”
Tim Reed was not expecting a big result after coming off an Ironman the week before.
Ben Kanute sprints to second in the Chengdu ITU World Cup
In a thrilling two-day event, Ben Kanute outsprinted Canadian Alexis Lepage in a photo finish to claim second place in the ITU Triathlon World Cup held in Chengdu, China.
Kanute successfully qualified for the finals in his preliminary race on Saturday and was one of 30 athletes who lined up for the medals race Sunday, a super-sprint triathlon (500m swim, 10K bike, 2.5K run). With a shorter race for the final, the fight for the podium was fierce. In the end, Australian Matthew Hauser won the race in 27 minutes and 42 seconds, with Kanute just edging out Lepage for second place 13 seconds later.
I really enjoy this style of race, and I was focused on qualifying and setting myself up for the final. I had a few things to clean up as it was a shorter and faster race for the super sprint final. In the final, it was a great showdown on the final straight with Alexis Lepage - I always love a good sprint finish! This was my first world cup podium in a long time. I loved the format; today was fast from start to finish and a good test of overall speed. Congrats to Matt Hauser on the win and to Alexis Lepage for the bronze.
