Africa Triathlon

Elite Women -Race Story

Final: Maxine Seear made up almost 20 seconds and the last lap and outsprinted   Dillon in the finish straight for a thrilling finish. Kiyomi Niwata put the   icing on the cake by taking the last step on the podium, much to the delight   of the home crowd.

Last Lap: Michelle Dillons lead has increased to 36 seconds over Maxine Seear   who is second. Meanwhile Kiyomi Niwata is sending the thousands of fans around   the course into a frenzy as she seems to have secured herself a podium position   as she is running strongly in 3rd place.

Lap 1 of Run: 3.3 km: Michelle Dillon ran through the field on the first lap   and as she ran through the stadium area she had a 20 second lead on Maxine Seear   and Machiko Nakanishi. Andrea Whitcombe was running in 4th, with Japanese athletes   Kiyomi Niwata and Maki Shimormura running in 5th and 8th. Brigitte McMahon was   in 6th, with Annaliese Heard in 8th. Julie Dibens in 9th and Megan Hall in 10th

Transition 2 - Start of 3 lap, 10km run: On the last lap Julie Dibens and Megan   Hall controlled things at the front, but the lead group of 17 last some time   to the big chase pack of 25 behind. Dibens moved to the front to avoid the congestion   at the dismount line, but it was Japan’s Maki Shimomura who proved what transition   speed really is as she cleared the field and was 1st on the run course. Dibens   was 2nd out, followed closely by Machiko Nakanishi of Japan, Maxine Seear of   Australia and Andrea Whitcombe of Britain. Noted runner Michelle Dillon of Britain   had a slow transition and was last from the leaders onto the run.

The chase pack was almost 1:30 back as then started the run. Samantha McGlone, Nicola Spirig and Akiko Sekine were the first one clear from that group.

Bike: 6 laps 1500m: Halfway Point: The chase group of 5 caught the leaders   by the halfway mark to form a group of 18 at the front. As they passed through   the stadium Halls continued to lead the group, followed closely by Dibens, Weckend,   Austria Eva Brambock, and Switzerland’s Olympic Champion Brigitte McMahon. A   large field formed into the new chase pack which includes Samantha McGlone of   Canada, Brazil’s Mariana Ohata, Nicola Spirig of Switzerland, Beatrice Lanza   of Italy, and Japan’s Akiko Skine. They were 1:30 back at the 20km mark

Laps 1 to 2: Heard tried to go it alone for the first lap with Weckend trying   hard to catch, but without a joint effort at the front a group of 7 bridged   to the leaders to form a group of 9 at the front. Britain’s Julie Dibens and   Megan Hall of South Africa took charge at the front trying to organise the lead   group to hold off a strong group of 5 that was trying to catch up. At the end   of the 2nd lap the chase group had moved to within 10 seconds of the leaders.   Britain’s Michelle Dillon, Jessica Harrison and Andrea Whitcombe, along with   Russia’s Olga Generalova and Japan’s Myuki Biwata made up the chase pack.

Swim: 2 laps 1500m: Canada’s newcomer Suzanne Weckend took a lead right from   the starter’s signal, and by the end of the 1st lap had built up a 3 second   lead on Britain’s Annaliese Heard. On the second lap Heard challenged Weckend   for the lead and with a sea-saw battle managed to pass the Canadian in the swim   exit and was 1st onto the 6 lap 40km bike course. Weckend was close behind,   but Heard chose to go it alone rather than work with the Canadian.

A large group of athletes formed the chase pack, including Maxine Seear of   Australia, Britain’s Julie Dibbens, Stephanie Forrester and Michelle Dillon,   Beatrice Lanza of Italy, and Lin Xing of China. At the start of the bike they   were down 23 seconds.

Pre Race: Air Temperature: 26C, water: humidity: 66%, wind: 3.6 ESE.

The sunshine is brilliant, the water azure blue, as thousands of local fans   line the course in anticipation of the start of the ITU Ishigaki Triathlon World   Cup. The rhythmic boom of the odeku drums are serving the heighten the anticipation   of everyone here in this tropical community.

The event will begin with a dive start into the pristine pure water of Tonoshiro   Bay where on a normal day fishing boats would be heading off for their daily   catch. Today, however the only fishing that will be happening is by over 120   athletes looking to snare a spot on the start line of the Olympic Games in Athens   in just over 4 months time.