Alexander, Carfrae too fast on foot for competition
By Brad Culp
May 4, 2008 -- Aussies Craig Alexander and Mirinda Carfrae both came from behind on the run to win at Sunday's Ironman 70.3 St. Croix. Crowie hunted down Italy's Marino Vanhoenacker with an absurb 1:15:58 half marathon, while Carfrae overcame early women's leader Felicity Hart of Great Britain on the run to win by 10 minutes.
The men were led out of the water by Kiwi super-swimmer Bryan Rhodes and 70.3-veteran Simon Lessing, as the pair exited the warm Caribbean waters in just under 26 minutes. Once the top men made their way onto their bikes, it was all about Vanhoenacker and rising Aussie star Paul Ambrose. Both athletes tore through the challenging bike leg, including a climb of the infamous "Beast", in under 2:20, which put Ambrose into T2 first, one minute ahead of the Vanhoenacker. Crowie came into T2 another two minutes later, in fourth position, ready to go after the trio of men ahead of him.
In typical fashion, Alexander made the half-marathon look easy, quickly catching and pulling away from Vanhoenacker, Ambrose and countryman Richie Cunningham. Crowie's run was four minutes faster than the rest of the men's field, putting him at the finish in 4:05:34, just over three minutes ahead of runner-up Vanhoenacker.
Cunningham ran his way to third, just seconds ahead of former Ironman World Champ Faris Al-Sultan. One of the most impressive performances came from Italian Massimo Cigana. The former pro cyclist made up for a lackluster swim with the second-best run of the day, moving all the way up to sixth overall.
In the women's race, Brit Julie Dibens surged to the front of the swim, followed by Germany's Nina Kraft, American Bree Wee and fellow-Brit Felicity Hart. The pair of Brits pulled away from Craft and Wee as the women made their way through the hills of St. Croix, but Dibens suffered a flat tire and was forced to drop out. Carfrae began making up huge chunks of time on the second half of the bike and pulled into T2 only two minutes behind Hart.
Much like her countryman Alexander, Carfrae destroyed the rest of the field on the run, by running about 30 seconds faster per mile than her competition. The Aussie finished in 4:26:56, almost ten minutes ahead of Kraft, who out-sprinted Wee for second.