Posted: May 9, 2006

Triathlon: Bozzone & McGlone Dominate Wildflower

A new generation of triathletes stamped their authority on one of the sport’s oldest races last Saturday. Terenzo Bozzone, 21, and Samantha McGlone, 27, dominated loaded race fields and established new course records at the 24th Annual Jamba Juice Wildflower Triathlon.

Last year, New Zealand’s Bozzone introduced himself to the North America triathlon scene with an impressive 3rd place finish at Wildflower. This year, he ripped up a top field and spat out the course record. Bozzone laid down a near perfect race – he was second out of the swim, rode away from the likes of Torbjorn Sindballe and Chris Leito on the bike en route to the day’s fastest bike split, and capped off his incredible day with a new run course record of 1:11:57 over a tough trail and road course. He broke the course record by nearly six minutes. This was no soft course record as Wildflower has hosted virtually every name triathlete in the sport’s history. Until last year, when Simon Lessing posted a 3:59:33, no one -- not Reid, not DeBoom, not McCormick, not Legh, not Bell, not Zack, not Larsen, not Widoff, not Brown, not Stadler -- had ever broken four hours on the Wildflower course.

While the news about Samantha McGlone’s win was not quite as sensational (as she was the defending champion) her result was equally impressive. Out of the swim with the race favorites, McGlone held off a determined challenge on the bike by 6-Time Ironman World Champion, Natascha Badmann, and then ran away to win by nearly six minutes. McGlone took 58 seconds off Donna Peter’s 1992 course record, possibly the oldest course record in the sport.

Chris Legh’s second place was a definitive response to the speculation about his health following his April announcement that he would no longer race full-distance Ironman races. As Legh has explained in many interviews, the difficulties he’s experienced at the full Ironman distance are solely caused by a patent foramen ovale, an opening in the heart that naturally closes before birth in 85 to 90 percent of the population. As he's found since first experiencing symptoms four years ago, the hole widens under race stress lasting longer than 4 hours and allows blood to flow out and settle in his lungs. This condition does not affect him in races up to half Ironman distance. Legh will now specialize at this distance and focus on the inaugural Ford Ironman 70.3 World Championship.

Ironman 70.3 Champion, Luke Bell dropped out of the race during the bike due to a cold he caught on his flight over from Australia. Luke is ramping up for Ironman Brazil at the end of the month.

After withdrawing from Ironman New Zealand due to illness, Kate Major finally got into the action at Wildflower finishing 5th in the strong women’s pro field.

2006 Jamba Juice Wildflower Triathlon

May 6, 2006 - Lake San Antonio, Calif.(1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run)

Men
1. Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) 3:53:43 (23:34/ 2:16:20/ 1:11:57)
2. Chris Legh (AUS) 4:01:38 (24:31/ 2:18:56/ 1:16:20)
3. Greg Remaly (USA) 4:03:29 (23:49/ 2:18:18/ 1:19:22)
4. Tom Evans (CAN) 4:06:08 (23:20/ 2:19:20/ 1:21:17)
5. Matt Seeley (USA) 4:09:29 (24:41/ 2:23:23/ 1:19:24) 

Women
1. Samantha McGlone (CAN) 4:31:08 (27:01/ 2:37:07/ 1:25:05) 
2. Natascha Badmann (SWI) 4:36:53 (29:06/ 2:35:50/ 1:29:38)
3. Kim Loeffler (USA) 4:44:18 (29:52/ 2:46:04/ 1:25:43)
4. Joanna Lawn (NZL) 4:45:25 (27:04/ 2:46:29/ 1:29:29)
5. Kate Major (AUS) 4:50:54 (29:11/ 2:46:10/ 1:33:09)

For complete results browse www.tricalifornia.com.

Reid Off To Better 2006 Start At Ironman St Croix 70.3

Three-Time Ironman World Champion Peter Reid finished 11th over the weekend at the Ironman St. Croix 70.3 half-Ironman distance race. While he was quite a distance behind race winner, Craig Alexander, this was a good start to his season. Determined not to make the same mistake he’s made the last two years by overtraining early in the year, Reid is slowly building up for Ironman Europe at the end of July.

The women’s winner at St. Croix was Australian Mirinda Carfrae.

For complete results browse Ironman.com.

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