Posted: May 9, 2004

Triathlon: Taormina and Docherty win Madeira ITU Worlds

FUNCHAL, Madeira Islands - Bevan Docherty of New Zealand won the men's race and Sheila Taormina of the United States the women's at the triathlon world championships Sunday.

Taormina pulled away from second place finisher, Loretta Harrop of Australia in the run-in to the finish while Bevan Docherty just pipped Ivan Rana in a brilliant men's race.

Docherty won the men's race in 1 hour, 41 minutes, 4.4 seconds, beating Ivan Rana of Spain by less than a second after a 1,500-meter swim, 40-kilometer bike ride and 10-kilometer run. Dimity Gaag of Kazakhstan was third in 1:41:18.

Taormina took the women's title in 1:52:17.3. Loretta Harrop of Australia was second, 12.4 seconds behind, while American Laura Reback was third in 1:53:00.7.

The top Canadian was Natasha Filliol in 16th place in 1:55:25.7. Carolyn Murray was 40th, Carol Montgomery 42nd, Gillian Moody 48th and Samantha Mcglone was 52nd. Suzanne Weckend did not finish.

Brent McMahon was the first Canadian male in 27th place in 1:43:35.7. Sebastien Laflamme was 64th.

Complete results and photos are available from the ITU website at: www.triathlon.org.