Whitcombe Claims London Title
Tuesday, 8th August 2006
Andrea Whitcombe stormed through the 10km run in the 2006 Michelob ULTRA London Triathlon to take victory ahead of BG Salford ITU World Cup winner, Sam Warriner of New Zealand.
The women's lead pack came out of their swim in London's docklands with a good sized contingent of British athletes, including Whitcombe, Liz Blatchford, Julie Dibens, Vicky Holland, Vanessa Raw, Henrietta Freeman and Leanda Cave. Through transition a large bike pack formed as they pedalled their way on a two lap course, taking in the sights of the Capital including Canary Wharf, Tower Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral, London Eye and Houses of Parliament.
With transition two looming, none was brave enough to make a break for the win, and so all efforts were concentrated onto the run. Warriner led out with Blatchford and Dibens in close contention, with Freeman, Cave, Holland and the imposing force of Whitcombe just behind. As the run progressed a break away formed as Whitcombe used her endurance strength to haul herself up alongside the impressive Warriner as the two came through the half-way mark stride for stride. Whitcombe had shown her running prowess at Salford the week before with a strong performance which had been somewhat overshadowed by Warriner's victory; but head to head a week later it was the Brit who had the better form.
Andrea Whitcombe took the applause and crossed the line in 1:57.38 with the Kiwi, Warriner, in second and Liz Blatchford third to make it two Brits on the podium.
The men's race was full of drama from the start as Richard Stannard went flat out on the swim to ensure he became the first man to exit the water in first for a decade of London Triathlons; and with it, a nice cheque for £2000. The chasing field was full of domestic and international talent, and it wasn't long before the likes of South Africa's Hendrik de Villiers and New Zealand's Hamish Carter and Bevan Docherty were chasing him down along with the British contingent of Tim Don, Andrew Johns, Stuart Hayes, Oliver Freeman along with up-and-coming athletes, Dann Brook, Harry Wiltshire and Mark Bruce.
The men's lead bike pack worked well together and managed to hold off the chasing athletes in packs two and three, before the almost routine bike break away occured from Stuart Hayes with just 10km left before transition two. Hayes, the defending Champion, entered the ExCel Centre to massive cheers from the home crowd and headed out onto the run with a minute lead over the chasing pack which included Don, Freeman and a refreshed Stannard.
However, it was the South African, de Villiers, who had made the most of the running and had closed the gap to Hayes to just six seconds at the 5km mark, with Tim Don looking strong in third and the young figure of Freeman fourth. As the crowd inside the ExCel Centre lost sight of the athletes as they headed back outside it seemed inevitable that Hayes was going to be caught, and sure enough, de Villiers was the first athlete back inside the building and over the line. As Don showboated his way down the finishing straight he held off a charging Freeman who had made a real impression on the London crowd.
A glorious weekend of sunshine had transferred itself on the race with four of the six podium places going to British athletes. The signs are good for the team with the World Championships just four weeks away.
Source: British Triathlon
More info: http://www.thelondontriathlon.com/