Posted: August 14, 2005

Triathlon: Luxford Wins Tiszaujvaros World Cup

Heavy rain in Eastern Europe resulted in a very strong current and unusually cold water in the Tiszau River that serves as the venue for the 1.5km swim leg of this popular event. The 18oC water resulted in wetsuits being the order of the day, as a strong field of women lined up for the start of the 9th running of the event here in Hungary.

The current ITU Triathlon World Champion, Sheila Taormina of the USA led through the entire first lap and also won the prime by being the first to enter the water for the second lap. The current World Cup leader, Annabel Luxford of Australia stayed in touch with Taormina through the entire swim, as did Annaliese Heard, the 2 time Junior World Champion from Great Britain.

By the swim to bike transition the only other one to hock onto the trio at the front was Germany’s Christiane Pilz. Emma Snowsill of Australia, one of the pre-race favourites struggled to remove her wetsuit in the transition area and lost valuable moments that cost her a chance stay up with the leaders. Snowsill was further hampered by a crack in the rim of her front wheel which was rubbing on the frame of her bike.

Snowsill organized a second group of four including Lenka Radova from the Czech Republic, Mari Rabie from South Africa and Akine Furatani of Japan. A larger group of 11 formed behind the chase pack led by Renata Berkova of the Czech Republic and Eva Dollinger of Austria.

Snowsill’s group lacked the horse-power of the leaders and they began to fall back to the chase pack. By the end of the 2nd of 6 laps on the 40km bike, the 2 groups merged to form one big pack.

Annaliese Heard out-sprinted the other three in the lead group to take the first bike prime, a display of sheer strength that delighted the thousands of frantic Hungarians that lined the course. The sprint for the prime line spurred the leaders on to pick up the pace and they increased the gap to the chasers on each lap by up to 30 seconds.

Sheila Taormina out-sprinted the lead group for the second prime at the start of the bell lap, which again seemed to energise the group at the front.

By the bike to run transition the leaders had a 2:30 lead as the run came down to sorting out positions for the podium.

Annabel Luxford has been on the podium each time she has raced this season, but until today she had not stand on that illusive top step. With her nemesis, Snowsill down by over 2 minutes at the front, Luxford had no problem taking charge of the matters on the 4 lap 10km run.

Although Taormina was first to exit the second transition area, Luxford soon moved to the front and never looked back. She increased her lead on each lap and ran home to the thunderous applause of the crowd. Christiane Pilz was second after exchanging position several times with Sheila Taormina who captured the last step on the podium.

Meanwhile, Emma Snowsill was eating up the time difference to the chase pack and managed to catch Annaliese Heard to place 4th with the fastest run time of day at 33:454. Heard rounded out the top 5.

Photo finish in Tiszaujvaros!

A huge field of men marched into their starting position as both the temperature and cheers from the crowd moved sharply upwards.

The predicted match-up between Craig Walton of Australia and Benjamin Sanson of France did not really materialize as Csaba Kuttor of Hungary and Courtney Atkinson of Australia were able to stay with the pair through the entire swim. Kuttor exited the swim first, much to the delight of the thousands of home-country fans that lined the banks of the river, with Sanson and Walton just behind. Courtney Atkinson and Christian Ruderer of Germany just missed the train leaving the transition and slowed to wait for the horsepower in the group behind.

Germany’s Jan Frodeno led the chase group onto the bike along with Sander Berk of the Netherlands, Hiroyuki Nishiuchi of Japan, Dimitry Gaag of Kazakhstan, Kris Gemmell of New Zealand and Brad Kahlefeldt of Australia.

The 10km stretch from the river to the town is flat and straight. During this leg the trio at the front built up a lead of almost 40 seconds, and the expectation from everyone was that they would increase their lead on each of the 6, technical laps through the streets of the city.

But this was not to be. Jan Frodeno and Kris Gemmell did the unexpected – they created enough energy at the front of the big chase pack to prevent the Walton group at the front from getting away.

Walton tried to repeat his victory on this course 2 years ago by building up an incredible lead, but the only reward he received was the bike prime on both the 2nd and 5th lap.

Despite the thundering cheers from the crowd each time Csaba Kuttor passed the stadium with Walton and Sanson, even their enormous energy was not enough to allow the trio to get away and their lead was held to around 40 seconds.

Kuttor was the first off the bike and onto run course with Walton and then Sanson on his heels. Although he and the crowd did their best to keep him in the lead the charging hordes from behind were no match for any of them.

A pack of men who do not settle for anything less then the podium were quickly moving in on the leaders as first Sanson and then Walton were picked off. The only one left in the lead was Kuttor after the first lap as Kahlefeldt, Gaag, Frodeno, Gemmell and Atkinson moved closer and closer to the Hun at the front.

By the 5 km mark Kuttor was passed by first Kahlefeldt and then Frodeno, Gemmell, Gaag and Atkinson. But if the crowd was disappointed, they certainly didn’t show it as their enthusiasm and appreciation quickly shifted to the splendid athletic performance at the front.

As “Attila” the famous race announcer stirred the crowd into a frenzy, another amazing sprint finish unfolded in Tiszaujvaros. Within the final 500 metres Frodeno, then Gemmell, then Atkinson ever so slightly dropped off the pace as Kahlefeldt and Gaag picked it up with breath-taking speed from muscles that had now been pumping for almost 2 hours in 33 degrees heat.

In the end it took the officials, the finish line video and the timing company to sort out the winner. Although Kahlefeldt’s hand crossed the line first, his torso did not, so Gaag stood on top of the podium for the first time this year. Atkinson held off Gemmell and Frodeno to round off the top 5.

As the thunderous applause from the triathlon-crazy fans subsided and the organising committee led by Dr. Gabor and Gergley Markus along with their well-oiled triathlon organizing machine congratulated each other, the celebrating crowd moved into the city square for an evening of multi-sport celebration.

As the 5 week swing through Canada and Europe draws to a close, thoughts turn to Gamagori, Japan where in 4 short weeks the triathlon world will gather for the 17th ITU Triathlon World Championships.

Complete results and photos are available at: Triathlon.org.