News & Racing

Potts edges Griffin, and Hauschildt dominates at Timberman 70.3

Andy Potts secured victory in New Hampshire's Timberman 70.3, finishing 90 seconds ahead of Australia's Leon Griffin, while Melissa Hauschildt continued her winning streak, dominating the women's race.

Karl Hayes

August 19, 2013 — 10.41am. 3 min read

Potts running to the win. Photo: Ironman.com

Andy Potts has added another 70.3 win to his resume in New Hampshire at the 13th running of the Timberman 70.3 event. Potts took the win 90-seconds ahead of Australian Leon Griffin, who has been knocking on the door all season.

Potts lead out of the drink in 22:21 with 2 two minute advantage over Kiwi Mark Bowstead who lead the chase pack including Griffin and Drietz Andreas from Germany. The German then lead the chasers onto the bike course and began to reel in Potts.

Andreas lead the men’s field into T2 with a 1:33 lead over Potts, and just over 4 minutes over Griffin and Bowstead.

It took Potts until the 6.5 mile mark to reel in the German, who was fighting. Potts ran a third-best 1:17:16 half-marathon to take the win in 3:53:23.

Griffin ran a steady 1:16:28 to overtake Andreas in the final kilometres and take second place in 3:54:53. Andreas took the final podium spot in 3:56:53 after fading to a 1:22:21 run.

Australian Melissa Hauschildt continued her strong form in dominating the women’s field and taking 11th place overall.

‘Doc’ (Yes, she is a MD) Amanda Stevens, as expected, followed Potts’ example and lead out of the water in 24:23, with almost three minutes lead over the chase group with included the former 70.3 World Champion, Hauschildt.

Melissa Hauschildt rode a blistering 2:12:36 to take the bike course record, and the win in Boulder earlier this month — Melissa Hauschildt set up the win with another race-best bike split.

Hauschildt didn’t waste any time and set about taking time off Stevens’ lead. By the 28-mile marker, Hauschildt was in striking distance, only 32-seconds in arrears, with a big gap back to the rest of the field.

With a race-best bike ride of 2:21:39, Hauschildt had taken the lead of the race and lead Stevens into transition with a 45-second lead. Heading out onto the run, Hauschildt’s run pedigree ensured she had all but sewn the race up.

With a race-best run split of 1:20:48, Hauschildt did just that, and took the honours in 4:12:49, 8:56 ahead of second place Stevens who crossed in 4:21:45, and over 14 minutes ahead of Amber Ferreria, who took the final podium spot with a time of 4:26:54.

In a solid Age-Group race, South African Kyle Buckingham (m30-34 took a big win over local Craig Widness. Buckingham finished 4th overall in 3:59:09. Widness (m40-44) crossed second in 4:12:50, ahead of Chris Thomas (m40-44) of Connecticut in 4:14:21, and Louis Therien (m30-34) from Gatineau in Canada who finished in 4:15:54.

The women’s honours were taken in a great swim-bike-run performance from Amy Farrell (f35-39) of Tupper Lake, NY in 4:32:37 ahead of Czech Jana Richtrova (f30-34) in 4:39:54 and 3rd-place getter Amelia McCracken (f30-34) in 4:45:01.

Men’s Top 5: