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Kiwi Tanner Wins in Ishigaki - Race Report

Sunday, 16th April 2006

The clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped to 18 degrees Celsius as the Elite women took the start line.  Pre race favourite, Annabel Luxford (AUS), pulled out early in the race due to a sore foot she injured recently in training.  This left the race wide open for New Zealander Debbie Tanner to claim the first podium of her young career in a sprint finish with veteran Michelle Dillon (GBR).  Last years winner Samantha Warriner (NZL) finished third only seconds behind.

"I am stoked.  I've never been on a podium before" said winner Tanner.  "My first podium and it's on top.  I felt really strong today and this season has been a dream so far."

Dillon managed to close a 70 second gap after the swim, working hard with training partner Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) on the bike.  Warriner, Dillon and Tanner immediately moved to the front of the run and worked well together, feeding off of each other until the final 500 metres where Tanner made her move and only Dillon was able to go with her.

This set the stage for a final sprint between Dillon and Tanner.  Unfortunately Dillon took a wrong turn coming into the final straight away and found herself a few steps behind Tanner and never recovered.

"I really thought I had a good chance of winning today but unfortunately the stars were not aligned for me."  said Dillon.

Warriner managed to hold off a fast approaching Carfrae to podium for the second time in two years at the ITU Ishigaki World Cup triathlon.

"At least it was a Kiwi on top as that is the next best thing to winning." stated Warriner.

Luxford remains on top of the World Cup rankings.

Full race results and event information are available at www.triathlon.org.