Moffatt and Gomez victorious again at Hy-Vee
Australia's Emma Moffatt and Spain's Javier Gomez Noya have both claimed their second respective Hy-Vee Elite US 5150 Championship titles on the weekend, each taking home with them a $100,000 share of the half-million dollar prize purse in Des Moines, Iowa. Women's Race: Australia&
Australia’s Emma Moffatt and Spain’s Javier Gomez Noya have both claimed their second respective Hy-Vee Elite US 5150 Championship titles on the weekend, each taking home with them a $100,000 share of the half-million dollar prize purse in Des Moines, Iowa.
Women’s Race:
Australia’s Emma Moffatt, a tw0-time ITU World Champion and two-time Olympian, took the race by the scruff of the neck and took home short-course racing’s biggest paycheck with a dominating win, her second victory in Des Moines after beating compatriot Emma Snowsill in 2009. Fellow Queenslander Melissa Hauschildt chased hard all day and took second, ahead of German Olympian Svenja Bazlen in third.
Moffatt began her day with a second-best swim, exiting the waters in 18:45 a short distance back of American Lauren Brandon, and just ahead of Brit Catherine Jameson. Unlike the men’s race, the swim was a bit more spread out with small gaps opening up all over the place. Kiwi Nicky Samuels wasn’t too far behind (18:52), however, as was American Laura Bennett (19:25). Hauschildt found herself two-minutes down out of the drink, exiting the water in 21:20.
Moffatt kept the tempo high on the bike and rode 1:00:41, entering T2 shoulder-to-shoulder with Samuels. After very strong bike rides, Daniela Ryf, Bazlen, Alicia Kaye, Meredith Kessler and Liz Blatchford were all in contention pending a strong run. Hauschildt was a big mover on the bike course, clocking a 59:27 -second only to Ryf- to make up a lot of time on the leaders.
From T2 onwards, however, it was all Moffatt. Using a second-best 34:59 run, Moffatt put gradually put more and more real-estate between herself, Samuels and the rest of the field. She couldn’t afford to let up, though, with a hard-charging Hauschildt chewing up time behind her. Hauschildt ran a race-best 34:52 10k to run into second place, however it wasn’t enough to catch the 2008 Bronze-medalist. Moffatt crossed the line in 1:57:04, with a solid margin over Hauschildt in second (1:58:30) and the consistent Bazlen (1:58:48). Samuels faded a little on the run, but held onto fourth place.
Prior to the race, a few late withdrawals gave the women’s start list a bit of a shake-up. 70.3 and Ironman World Champion Leanda Cave, and defending Hy-Vee Champ and Olympic Silver Medalist Lisa Norden of Sweden both pulled out in the week before the race. Norden has been struggling this season managing a foot injury and decided to pull out of Sunday’s race in hopes of still making it to the startline in Las Vegas next week.
Women’s Top 10:
- Emma Moffatt (AUS) 1:57:04
- Melissa Hauschildt (AUS) 1:58:30
- Svenja Bazlen (GER) 1:58:48
- Nicky Samuels (NZL) 1:59:18
- Lauren Goss (USA) 1:59:27
- Alicia Kaye (USA) 2:00:05
- Meredith Kessler (USA) 2:00:24
- Daniela Ryf (SUI) 2:01:20
- Liz Blatchford (GBR) 2:01:41
- Radka Vodickova (CZE) 2:02:03
Men’s Race:
The men eventually took to the start line on the pontoon at 7:30am. One of the sport’s best swimmers (and probably the best athlete. Period.), Gomez lead the pack out of the water in a sharp 17:17. Aussie Josh Amberger was close behind, exiting in second ahead of the likes of Ivan Vasilyev, and Cam Dye. The main pack was all out of the water in under 18 minutes with Aussies Sam Betten, Greg Bennett, Paul Matthews, Jimmy Seear, and Joey Lampe all in the mix.
Non-drafting short course specialist Cam Dye wasted no time in putting the foot down on the new bike course (54:01) and came into the transition with a short lead over Greg Bennett who rode a stomping 53:52 to dismount in second place ahead of the ever-present Hunter Kemper.
Kemper and Bennett took the lead over Dye early in the run, but it wouldn’t last. Defending champion Gomez had lost a minute on the bike to the leaders, but wasn’t too worried. Gomez used a dominating 30:30 10km run to take the title in a quick 1:45:57. Kemper tried his best to stay with the Spaniard, but couldn’t match the Olympic Silver medalist’s pace. Kemper ran a 31:47 to finish second (1:46:09) ahead of Bennett in third (1:47:10), ensuring it would be a repeat of last year’s podium. Fellow Australian Paul Matthews in fourth (1:47:54).
Men’s Top 10:
- Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:45:57
- Hunter Kemper (USA) 1:46:09
- Greg Bennett (AUS) 1:47:10
- Paul Matthews (AUS) 1:47:54
- Kevin Collington (USA) 1:48:09
- Bevan Docherty (NZL) 1:48:29
- Ivan Vasilyev (RUS) 1:48:41
- Ruedi Wild (SUI) 1:48:54
- Bertrand Billard (FRA) 1:49:23
- Cam Dye (USA) 1:49:29
