Africa Triathlon

The Sunshine Coast lived up to its name as the sun continued to shine over the thousands of spectators who lined the course to watch forty-eight men dive into the water for the ITU Mooloolaba World Cup. 

Commonwealth Games silver medalist and former World Champion Bevan Docherty of New Zealand ran a phenomenal race, coming from almost a minute down after the bike, to take the top prize in a time of 1:49:43.  Hunter Kemper of the United States, in his first World Cup race of 2006, took second spot only a few seconds behind with a time of 1:49:45.  Rounding out the podium was Courtney Atkinson from Australia with a time of 1:49:58, giving the hometown crowd something to cheer about.

Going into the run I didnt think I was going to win, said Docherty.  Peter Robertson took off on the run like he usually does but I decided not to go with him but rather to hold back and I guess it paid off.

Kemper and Atkinson worked well with their group on the bike to reel in early race leaders Craig Walton (AUS) and Kris Gemmell (NZL) during the closing stages of the cycle, giving them a fifty-five second lead on the chase group, and setting them up well for the run.

Any time youre on the podium is a good day, said Kemper, who only arrived late the night before. Bevan had such a strong day and deserved to win.  He came up behind me and stayed there for about five seconds and took off.  I just couldnt go with him.

We dont have many races like that, where it is a real all-rounders race, stated Atkinson. I was very disappointed that the swim was not in the ocean.  Being a local Queenslander I was looking forward to it.

Hedland Hill, which competitors had to negotiate 16 times during the bike and 8 times on the run, quickly took its toll on many of the athletes as a number dropped out, including local Aussie hero Craig Walton. 

Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Peter Robertson stormed out of transition two on a mission, gaining over thirty seconds in the first five kilometres, and coming within ten seconds of the leaders, before fading.

2006 ITU Mooloolaba World Cup Triathlon Men

1.DOCHERTY, Bevan (NZL)1:49:43
2.KEMPER, Hunter (USA)1:49:45
3.ATKINSON, Courtney (AUS)1:49:58
4.GEMMELL, Kris (NZL)1:50:05
5.CLARKE, William (GBR)1:50:30

2006 ITU World Cup Rankings
1.POLIKARPENKO, Volodymyr (UKR)
2.DELLOW, David (AUS)
3.FRETTA, Mark (USA)
4.GOMEZ, Javier (ESP)
5.GLUSHCHENKO, Andriy (UKR)

Full race results and event information are available at www.triathlon.org.

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Click here for official men’s results.

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