Photo: Paul Phillips

It was only a matter of time before the sports strongest biker finally put a big enough gap between himself and the runners to take victory. Not only did Chris Lieto destroy the field on the bike, he took victory over one of the sports best runners, 2007 Ironman 70.3 World Champion, Andy Potts.

Lieto overcame a 90 second deficit out of the water to build a 4 minute plus lead on the bike before hanging on with a solid, some would say spectacular, 71 minute run. Potts on the other hand just ran out of road (see footnote) and despite giving everything of himself, had to settle for second, 24 seconds adrift of the ecstatic Lieto.

Behind these two, we saw the next generation step forward and new pro, Andrew Yoder, virtually matched Lieto’s bike split but didn’t have the legs left to hold off Potts on the run.

Wellington bounces back

After a crash sidelined Chrissie Wellington for the early part of the season, questions have been asked about whether the likes of Julie Dibens, Catriona Morrison and Mirinda Carfrae may have closed the gap on the almost invincible Wellington. While they may have not been answered, Chrissie’s performance in Kansas reminded us of just how good she is and how far the rest will have to go in order to catch her.

Perhaps her only weakness to date has been in the water but even that is improving and she exited 3 minutes down on Pip Taylor and proved that her shoulder injury was a thing of the past.

Lieto and Yoder aside, Wellington’s 2:21 bike split would have made most the men happy as she crushed her rivals entering T2 with a 3 minute lead on Taylor but with no one else in sight. There was no chance of things developing into a foot race as Wellington continued to increase her lead, eventually finishing 17 minutes ahead of Taylor and almost walking away with all the ladies prize money under the controversial 8% rule, with only Taylor and Linsey Corbin in third place getting to share in the spoils.

Photo: Jon Goering

Women

1. Chrissie Wellington (GBR) 4:07:49
2. Pip Taylor (AUS) 4:24:29
3. Linsey Corbin (USA) 4:25:58

Men

1. Chris Lieto (USA) 3:44:07
2. Andy Potts (USA) 3:44:31
3. Andrew Yoder (USA) 3:49:46

Photo: Bill Greentree

After local hero, John Flanagan, obliterated the field in the swim, exiting the water 2 minutes ahead of the field, it was the bikers in the form of Luke Bell and Matt Lieto that tamed the famous winds and bike course to open up a minutes lead over the field into T2.

With the heat becoming a factor, it was Tim DeBoom that ran out of T2 looking incredibly fresh, ultimately running though the field to take victory from Bell and Lieto.

Bree Wee led the women out of the water but it didn’t take Belinda Granger long to assert her authority on the bike before backing it up with a solid run to take victory from local Wee with Emily Cocks in third

Women

1. Belinda Granger (AUS) 4:34:38
2. Bree Wee (USA) 4:40:13
3. Emily Cocks (USA) 4:45:05

men

1. Timothy DeBoom (USA) 4:04:02
2. Luke Bell (AUS) 4:05:29
3. Matt Lieto (USA) 4:08:14

Comment – Two things bothered me this weekend and these were:

• With the virtual plethora of events around the world and in particular the USA, it is worth noting that there were a disproportionate number of age-groupers filling the top 10 spots in 70.3 races. Surely the WTC can manage a calendar better than this or is it a case of being too greedy and merely licensing events for financial gain?
• Secondly, is it too difficult to get the course measurements right? What with GPS and Google Earth, surely anyone can measure a course correctly and if that means sending them round the block one more time then so be it. No disrespect to Andy Potts but I don’t think he will be putting his 67 minute run on his PB list anytime soon.