Nov. 13, 2006 -- Rina Hill of Australia and Andy Potts of the United States won the final leg of 2006 BG Triathlon World Cup series on a tough day in New Plymouth, New Zealand, on Nov. 12. Windy and blustery conditions made for a difficult day for many of the 103 athletes toeing the start line.
In the women's event, Hill's time of 2:03:18 was only six seconds faster then Anja Dittmer of Germany, who was able to finish in second place. Rounding out the podium only a few steps behind was Laura Bennett of the United States.
"I haven't had a win in seems like a decade," said the 37-year-old mother of two, who has only raced three world cups in the past two years. "Every time I make a comeback I think, 'Well, how competitive am I going to be?' To come back and win is unbelievable."
Hill has not been on top of the world cup podium since 2003, when she won the New York world cup. Since then she has one second place in Edmonton, Canada, in 2004.
Dittmer and Bennett battled in a sprint finish for the silver medal and valuable points as the close of the season brings with it a U.S. $250,000 bonus pool for the final world cup standings. Both Dittmer and Bennett moved up in the year-end rankings with Dittmer finishing third and Bennett fourth.
"Anja and I had a little bet on the sprint finish", stated Bennett, who grabbed her fourth bronze medal of the year. "She absolutely smoked me."
"I will give her [Laura] a drink tonight, because I won," responded Dittmer. "I started to laugh just before the finish when I pulled ahead."
Forty-six women from 16 countries entered the Tasmanian Sea in heavy winds, which would plague the athletes all day, to start the 15th race of the 2006 BG Triathlon World Cup series. The chilly 16-degree Celsius water temperature would mean wetsuits were allowed over the one-lap, 1,500-meter swim. Still, choppy conditions broke the women into multiple groups heading into the first transition.
"When I woke up this morning I thought, 'This is going to be a tough day because of the wind, rain and cold,'" commented Hill. "Triathlon is a tough sport."
Annabel Luxford (AUS) and Sarah Haskins (USA) led out of the first transition and opened up a quick 15-second gap between themselves and the first chase group. But the gap was erased by the chase group, which included Hill, Dittmer, Bennett, Emma Moffatt (AUS), Andrea Hewitt (NZL) and Ainhoa Murua (ESP).
After swallowing the two leaders, the lead group put the hammer down to pull away from the chasers. Top contenders Samantha Warriner (NZL), Lauren Groves (CAN) and Andrea Whitcombe (GBR) were stuck in the chase pack and were out of contention heading into second transition over two minutes down.
Out onto the four-lap, 10-kilometer run course, it was Hill, Dittmer, Bennett and Moffatt who immediately pulled away from the rest of the group. By the five-kilometer mark Moffatt had dropped off and it was down to three. Hill led the entire run leg, and despite thoughts that she would tire out, pulled away with two kilometers to go and easily took the win.
"I felt very good on the run," commented Hill on her decision to stay in front. "I was listening to the other girls' breathing and thought that I would test them a little. They didn't respond."
Moffatt was able to hang on to fourth position while Luxford was able to take fifth, finishing her first world cup since her early-season injury.
Potts leads start to finishIn the men's event, Potts was able to lead from start to finish, employing his strong swim and bike skills to pull away from the rest of the field with eventual silver medalist Marko Albert of Estonia. Potts' time of 1:50:37 was 55 seconds quicker then his next-closest rival Albert and a further one minute and 28 seconds ahead of third place Tony Moulai of France.
"I definitely put my best foot forward today," said Potts. "I always try to employ this strategy in every race. When it works, it's amazing."
The 30-year-old Potts led the swim and pushed the bike with the Estonian. Potts moves into third place in the end-of-season rankings with his win here today, behind Javier Gomez of Spain and Volodymyr Polikarpenko of the Ukraine.
"Sometimes when you have two bad seasons in a row you lose confidence," said the 2004 Olympian Albert. "Today I proved I can do it. The game plan today is the only game plan that works for me."
Albert, who is traditionally not a strong runner, has not been on the world cup podium since 2004, where he finished second in Brazil, while this was Moulai's first world cup podium.
Fifty-seven men from 21 countries ran into rough waters in 15-degree air temperatures as rain began to fall in the coastal city. Potts and Albert came out of the water together -- ahead of the rest of field containing many of the big guns including Moulai, Bevan Docherty (NZL), Polikarpenko (UKR), Kris Gemmell (NZL), Matt Reed (USA), Greg Bennett (AUS) and Filip Ospaly (CZE).
"When we came out of the water there was just two of us," commented Albert. "We both knew what we had to do, and we just started pushing."
Quickly out on the six-lap hilly and windy bike course it was the American and Estonian riding away from the large chase group, using each other and their bike strength to mount a two-minute lead heading into the second transition. Only Reed and teammate Brian Fleischman (USA) made an attempt to catch the two leaders, going out on their own to try to bridge the gap on the fourth lap. They managed to come off the bike 67 seconds down.
"I just kept thinking, 'Just keep going, just keep going. If it works, great. If it doesn't then you can't say you didn't try,'" stated Potts.
Local favorite Docherty and France's Moulai managed to pull away from the large chase group and reel in Reed and Fleischmann after eight kilometers of the run. From there it was down to the last 500 meters before Moulai made his break, pulling away from the 2004 Olympic silver medalist.
"I was very surprised with my run," commented Moulai. "This morning I watched the New Zealand-France rugby match. We [France] lost and I definitely wanted my revenge today."
"When you run with the Olympic silver medalist you have bad thoughts in your head," continued Moulai. "I want to thank New Zealand for a beautiful race and a wonderful welcome."
Docherty was able to finish fourth with Czech athlete, Ospaly rounding out the top five.
2006 New Plymouth BG Triathlon World CupNew Plymouth, New ZealandNov. 12, 20061.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km runWomen:1. HILL, Rina (AUS) 2:03:18
2. DITTMER, Anja (GER) 2:03:24
3. BENNETT, Laura (USA) 2:03:27
4. MOFFATT, Emma (AUS) 2:03:46
5. LUXFORD, Annabel (AUS) 2:04:49
6. HASKINS, Sarah (USA) 2:04:55
7. CORTASSA, Nadia (ITA) 2:04:56
8. MURUA, Ainhoa (ESP) 2:05:04
9. DAY, Tameka (AUS) 2:05:14
10. HEWITT, Andrea (NZL) 2:05:15
Men:1. POTTS, Andy (USA) 1:50:37
2. ALBERT, Marko (EST) 1:51:31
3. MOULAI, Tony (FRA) 1:52:04
4. DOCHERTY, Bevan (NZL) 1:52:26
5. OSPALY, Filip (CZE) 1:52:43
6. POLIKARPENKO, Volodymyr (UKR) 1:52:51
7. FLEISCHMAN, Brian (USA) 1:52:55
8. FLEURETON, Cedric (FRA) 1:53:13
9. REED, Shane (NZL) 1:53:19
10. JASKOLKA, Marek (POL) 1:53:30