Posted: September 17, 2005

Triathlon: Fernandes and Kemper Win Beijing World Cup Triathlon

Beijing, China: 27 September: Round #12 of the ITU Triathlon World Cup doubled as a test for the proposed course for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Triathlon.

Staged in and around the Ming Tomb Reservoir in the Changping District of Beijing, the 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run was celebrated as a success by local officials and key members of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

Hunter Kemper of the USA, a 2 time Olympian himself, put his stamp on the men's event by out-sprinting Frederic Belaubre of France for the win. Jan Frodeno of Germany posted his first podium finish, with Cedric Fleureton of France 4th and Andy Potts of the USA 5th.

In the women's race, the American trio of Sheila Taormina, Barb Lindquist and Becky Lavelle built up a 25 second lead in the swim and then joined forces on the bike to build up a sizeable lead on the chase pack that included the World Cup leader Annabel Luxford of Australia and the young Portuguese superstar Vanessa Fernandez.

Luxford dropped out in the early stages of the bike stating "With just 6 days since the World Championships (in Gamagori where she was 2nd), I just had no fuel in the tank."

With Luxford out of the way, Fernandes went to work on the gap to the leader and finally caught them on the last lap. She exited the transition first and ran home for her 3rd World Cup victory of the season. Sheila Taormina, in her final Triathlon before taking up Modern Pentathlon, held off a charging Helen Tucker of Great Britain for 2nd, as Susan Williams of the USA and Andrea Whitcomb of Great Britain were 4th and 5th respectively.

The primes in the men were won by Andy Potts (swim) and Kris Gemmell of New Zealand who took both bike primes. In the women, Taormina won the swim prime and the 5th lap bike prime with Lindquist winning the 2nd lap bike prime.

To celebrate the first staging of a World Cup on the 2008 Olympic venue, the athletes, officials and dignitaries enjoyed a delightful evening in the grand hall with the spectacular view of the Great Wall in the distance and the full autumn moon overhead.

Canadian Results

Canadian Samantha McGlone was the top Canadian in 12th place, followed by Carolyn Murray in 14th, Lauren Groves in 26th, and Tara Ross in 34th. The sole Canadian man, Paul Tichelaar finished 22nd less than 4 minutes off the winning time..

For complete results, photos and video footage visit Triathlon.org.