Olympic silver medallist Javier Gomez of Spain fought off oppressive heat and a spirited effort by crowd favourite Hunter Kemper today to win the 2012 Hy-Vee Triathlon 5150 Elite Cup and take home USD$171,000 in prize money.
Bevan Docherty and Clark Ellice proved best of the Kiwis, finishing 4th and 8th respectively in the rich non-drafting race.
Docherty earns USD$25,000, while Ellice picks up a cool USD$14,000 in a race with a total prize purse of USD$1,000,000. Of the other Kiwis, Kris Gemmell came home 15th (USD$7,500) and Dylan McNeice 30th (USD$3,000).
"It was a really hard race. It was more about fighting the sun and high temperatures and trying to maintain a good pace," said Gomez, who outdistanced the man who defeated him at the Summer Games in London, Great Britain's Alistair Brownlee, with a strong run leg that saw him grab the lead from 2011 Hy-Vee champ Greg Bennett of Australia on the second lap and hold off Kemper by 22 seconds. Bennett finished third.
"It's a strong man's course," an obviously drained Kemper said after the race. "The whole day was hard."
With temperatures approaching 33 degrees and very little breeze, the 31-man field hit the water at Gray's Lake and immediately set a furious pace. Aussie Josh Amberger was the first man out of the water on lap one, with former University of Iowa swimmer Cameron Dye and Gomez in hot pursuit. Gomez swallowed up Amberger's lead on lap two and led the leaders into the first transition.
That's where American Ben Collins took over. Just like he did in 2011, Collins took the lead on the bike and was gobbling up real estate when – just like last year – misfortune hit. A broken wheel knocked Colin off the lead lap. In 2011, it was a broken foot that sidelined him on the second lap on the run.
Australian Paul Mathews took the lead, but Bennett quickly chased down his countryman and led the field into the 10-kilometre run. Kemper, who battled back from a series of injuries to earn a berth on the U.S. Olympic Team (he finished 14th in London) made his customary charge, but he could not catch Gomez, the world overall champion in 2008 and 2010.
Brownlee who has dominated the sport at the Olympic distance the past three years, got off to a slow start, briefly threatened on the bike leg, but finished 14th.
"This race was completely different than the Olympics because of the heat," Gomez said while sitting in a tub of ice after his victory. "But I pushed hard the whole time. It was a good race and a good win."
The raced proved a good hit out for Docherty who will next turn his attention to the 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas next weekend where he will be amongst a host of New Zealanders, before he looks to conclude his ITU racing for the season with a farewell appearance at the Barfoot & Thompson ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Auckland in October, a race set to also feature Ellice, Gemmell, London Olympian Ryan Sissons and a host of other New Zealanders up against the best in the world.
Results: Hy-Vee 5150
Des Moines, Iowa
Elite Men
1. Javier Gomez Noya (ESP) 1:51:21
2. Hunter Kemper (USA) 1:51:59
3. Greg Bennett (AUS) 1:52:24
4. Bevan Docherty (NZL) 1:52:46
5. Matt Reed (USA) 1:53:24
Plus Kiwis
8. Clark Ellice (NZL) 1:54:46
15. Kris Gemmell (NZL) 1:58:35
30. Dylan McNeice (NZL) 2:14:46
For further information visit www.hy-veetriathlon.com.
