Elite Men-Race Story
Final: With more 2nd place finishers than anyone else in World Cup history, Bevan Docherty didn’t settle for 2nd today as he ran a blistering final lap to win the 2004 ITU Ishigaki Triathlon World Cup, with time to spare in the finish straight receiving high 5’s from his fans. Dimitri Gaag was 2nd and Paul Amey of Britain with a huge comeback from several years of injury was 3rd - which also earned him a spot on the British Olympic team for Athens.
Run: 2nd Lap: Docherty and Gaag have increased their lead to 25 seconds and continue to run shoulder to shoulder at the front. The trio of Bennett, Johns and Amey are running together as the chase pack and are in the battle for the final step on the podium. A further 15 seconds back, Brazilians Leandro Macedo and Juraci Moreira are running together with Stuart Hayes.
Run: 1st Lap: Bevan Docherty and Dimitri Gaag of Kazahkstan overtook the leaders on the 1st lap and built up a 15 second lead on a trio led by Greg Bennett, Paul Amey and Andrew Johns. A second chase pack a further 20 seconds back was led by British teammates Richard Stannard and Stuart Hayes and Juraci Moreira of Brazil.
Transition #2: The trio of Gemmell, Mazure and Krommidas swept through the second transition with speedy proficiency, but it was Mazure who was first onto the final 10km run course. They had barely cleared the transition when the remainder of the field arrived en masse. Bevan Docherty, Richard Stannard. Dimitry Gaag, Chris Hill, Richard Allen, Andrew Johns and Greg Bennett were the first from the huge pack through onto the run. As they headed up the bridge, Cyrille Mazure moved ahead of Gemmell to take a significant lead.
Bell lap: Mazure, Gemmell, Krommidas held the massive pack off through the 5th lap, as Gerald Hovarth, Richard Stannard and Igor Sysoev broke from the massive pack trying to bridge to the leaders. The second chase pack did the amazing thing of catching the big pack, thanks to the brave hearts of Tyler Butterlfield, Conrad Stoltz and Norbert Dominik.
4 laps: A new serious breakaway has been orchestrated by Kris Gemmell, Cyrille Mazur of France and Vasiliv Krommidas, who will be competing at home this summer in Greece. At the end of the 4th lap the trio had a 43 second lead on the chase pack which was now down to 28 riders. The chase pack was led by Japan Hirokatsu Tayama and Shane Reed. Meanwhile Andrew Johns, Greg Bennett and Dimitri Gaag appear to be sitting at the end of the chase pack waiting for the run to begin. The second chase pack which was pulled through the entire 4th lap by Conrad Stoltz is closing on the big pack which is just 38 seconds ahead of them.
18km of Bike: The Kiwi breakaway ended halfway through the second lap, but Belgium’s Alex Zeebroek, along with British teammates Richard Stannard and Richard Allen appeared to be attempting at second breakaway as the leaders sped through the stadium to start the 3rd lap.
13km of Bike: Bennett led the huge pack of 31 riders through the first 2 laps, exchanging with Shane Reed and Richard Stannard. The energy spinning off them as they sped through the spectator lined streets of Ishigaki was magic. Just before they entered the stadium area to begin the 3rd lap, Kiwi teammates Bevan Docherty and Kris Gemmell broke from the mob and threated to make a breakaway, with Shane Reed, Stannard, Axel Zeebroek from Belgium, and Franz Hoefer from Austria. Meanwhile, Bermuda’s Olympic hopeful Tyler Butterfield had taken control of the chase pack and was working hard along with South Africa’s Conrad Stoltz to make up some time on the leaders.
Transition #1:A huge pack exited the water moments behind the leaders that included Shane Reed of New Zealand, Chris Hill of Australia, Hirokatsu Tayama of Japan and Russian teammates Ivan Vasiliev and Igor Sysoev. Greg Bennett, who stayed in about 10th place through the swim, exited the 1st transition in 14th place. On the first lap, Bennett appeared to be not content with his position in the pack, so powered his way through the field to take the lead up and over the Southern Cross Bridge - the familiar landmark on the course.
Swim: 2 laps 1500m: It was a perfect start for a powerful collection of the world’s best. Richard Stannard of Britain took his familiar position at the lead from the start signal with Tsukasa Hirano of Japan on his heels. Stannard led through the first lap, but he an Hirano swam neck and neck through the final 750 metres. Stannard was first out of the water and through the first transition, with Hirano and Paulo Miyashiro of Brazil on his heels. Pre Race: Air Temperature: 28C, water: humidity: 66%, wind: 3.6 ESE.
The sunshine is brilliant, the water azure blue, as thousands of local fans line the course in anticipation of the start of the ITU Ishigaki Triathlon World Cup. The rhythmic boom of the odeku drums are serving the heighten the anticipation of everyone here in this tropical community.
The event will begin with a dive start into the pristine pure water of Tonoshiro
Bay where on a normal day fishing boats would be heading off for their daily
catch. Today, however the only fishing that will be happening is by over 120
athletes looking to snare a spot on the start line of the Olympic Games in Athens
in just over 4 months time.
Related Event: 2004 Ishigaki ITU Triathlon World Cup
Results: Elite Men | |||
---|---|---|---|
1. | Bevan Docherty | NZL | 01:48:32 |
2. | Dmitriy Gaag | KAZ | 01:48:51 |
3. | Paul Amey | GBR | 01:49:09 |
4. | Andrew Johns | GBR | 01:49:22 |
5. | Greg Bennett | AUS | 01:49:22 |
6. | Hiroyuki Nishiuchi | JPN | 01:49:55 |
7. | Reto Hug | SUI | 01:49:58 |
8. | Tim Don | GBR | 01:50:01 |
9. | Leandro Macedo | BRA | 01:50:04 |
10. | Stuart Hayes | GBR | 01:50:06 |
Results: Elite Women | |||
---|---|---|---|
1. | Maxine Seear | AUS | 02:00:25 |
2. | Michelle Dillon | GBR | 02:00:36 |
3. | Kiyomi Niwata | JPN | 02:01:16 |
4. | Brigitte McMahon | SUI | 02:01:31 |
5. | Machiko Nakanishi | JPN | 02:01:44 |
6. | Andrea Whitcombe | GBR | 02:01:59 |
7. | Tracy Looze | NED | 02:02:31 |
8. | Samantha Mcglone | CAN | 02:02:47 |
9. | Anneliese Heard | GBR | 02:02:48 |
10. | Stephanie Forrester | GBR | 02:02:51 |