Posted: June 29, 2004

Triathlon: Legh Wins Ironman Coeur D’Alene

So Far, It’s A Chris Legh Summer

Mirror mirror on the wall who’s the hottest triathlete of them all? Maybe it’s Simon Lessing with his two wins at Ironman Half Disney World and Escape from Alcatraz. But maybe, just maybe, it’s Chris Legh the winner of yesterdays Ironman Coeur d”Alene.

With 11 miles to run Legh had only recovered 3 minutes from his 10-minute deficit off the bike. With 4 miles to run he was still down 3 minutes and, while he was steadily making up time, the math wasn’t in his favor. Kicking it hard, Legh could finally see race leader, Matt Seeley, somewhere around the 24 mile mark. The pass was accomplished at mile 25 and Legh’s second career Ironman title was in the bag.

This result followed on the heals of Legh’s impressive warm-up win at the Eagleman Half Ironman distance race two weeks ago. Legh won this easily won this race by more than 7 minutes taking 3 minutes off Tim DeBoom’s course record.

Legh started his season with an impressive second place finish at Ironman Australia in April.

Ironman Coeur d’Alene women’s race favorite, Lori Bowden, pulled out of the race half-way through the run with a nerve problem in her left foot. While fatal to her race, this condition is thought to be immediately correctable.

For additional details on Ironman Coeur d’Alene browse: www.ironmanlive.com.

Results

Ironman USA Coeur d'Alene - Coeur d'Alene, Idaho - June 27, 2004. (2.4mi S/112mi B/26.2mi R)

Men
1. Chris Legh, Australia, 8:42:56                     (52:18\53:30\2:53:19) 
2. Matt Seeley, Polson, Mont., 8:44:45          (52:59\4:43:30\3:05:05)            
3. Andriy Yastrebov, Ukraine, 8:52:52           (51:54\5:09:20\2:48:26)           
4. Andy Martin, Bend, Ore., 9:03:12               (59:24\4:48:51\3:10:57)           
5. Brent Lorenzen, Irvine, Calif., 9:09:31        (49:34\5:02:14\3:14:06)            

Women1. Lynley Allison, New Zealand, 9:31:56       (53:22\5:16:45\3:18:13) 
2. Heather Gollnick, Hartford, Wisc., 9:41:48
3. Karen Holloway, Richmond, Va., 9:53:29
4. Monica Caplan, Boulder, Colo., 9:59:46
5. Amanda Gillam, Boulder, Colo., 10:01:49

EagleMan Triathlon - Half Ironman Distance, June 13, 2004

Men

1 Chris Legh AUS             3:47:28                  (26:17\2:03:33\1:14:48)   
2 Courtney Ogden AUS   3:55:06                  (25:58\2:06:14\1:19:43) 
3 Andriy Yastrebov           3:55:58                  (26:09\2:10:45\1:16:04) 

Women
1 Natascha Badmann SWI  4:13:42         
2 Desiree Ficker USA 4:16:36         
3 Kate Major AUS 4:21:14         

Visit the PCH Sports web site at www.pchsports.com.