Link: http://www.xtri.com/article.asp?id=1770
Legh and Badmann soar at the Eagleman
Chris Legh made his every-other-year appearance at the Eagleman Half in Maryland count by taking the top title in the men's race at the weekend, to add to his first in 2004 and his second in 2002. Legh can't go wrong right now, tucking away his third 70.3 win in the six months since August 2005, when he took the Timberman. In between then and now, he's notched up a first at Baja and a second place at Wildflower.
Old hand and Ironman World Champion Natascha Badmann defended her 2004 title in style, arriving over the line in 4:18.12, 10 minutes ahead of second-placed Leanda Cave who had no chance of beating Badmann once they left T2 with the World Champ eight minutes ahead. Badmann came off a second place to Samantha McGlone at Wildflower in May and her first place at Ironman South Africa in March.
Aussie Legh was made to suffer a little for his win, chased in by trans-Tasman rival, the New Zealander Kieran Doe, who was just a minute and a half behind the champion. The 24-year-old New Zealander led out of the 2 km swim and produced a superb effort on the 90 km bike to stay in front of a talented line-up of pursuers. But Legh finally took the lead at the 5 km mark on the run, leaving the young Kiwi running strongly for second and his most prestigious half-distance placing to date in his career.
Doe finished a strong second to Craig Alexander at the Port of Tauranga Half Ironman in 2005 and used that to launch his challenge for the Ironman New Zealand title. He lead the race onto the run but succumbed to Cameron Brown during the marathon. Doe's Ironman career to date has been marked by strong swim-bike combos but much suffering on the run. As he matures, it seems he is getting the run leg dialled in and could be one to watch over the full distance over the next twelve months.
The battle up front had really been left to Legh and Doe, with third-placed Leon Griffin seven minutes behind the pair, holding Ukrainian Viktor Zyemtsev off in fourth by only 20 seconds. TJ Tollaksen was in third place leaving T2, but vanished off the map and ended up in seventh, after Griffin and Zyemtsev ran him down. Spencer Smith had been in touch right up to the run, coming out of T2 behind the Ukrainian, but he pulled out early on the run, blaming a cold.
In the women's race, the clear air between Badmann and second-placed Leanda Cave was in marked contrast to the bunching of Cave, Desiree Ficker a minute behind in third and Katja Schumacher two minutes down in fourth. Cave led the race out of the water, only to fall to Badmann on the bike after which Natascha never looked back. Ficker secured her third place with a sterling run moving up from fifth out of T2 and passing Schumacher not far from the finish line.
The prize for sheer bad luck had to go to Taupo's Bryan Rhodes, who was forced to withdraw after being hit by a jet ski while leading the swim in choppy conditions. Fortunately, Rhodes was not seriously injured and managed to swim ashore, although he withdrew from the race. |
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