The Lifetime Fitness race (Minneapolis) begins at 9:30 a.m. CDT on Saturday, with the NBC telecast going from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. CDT. Course is somewhat changed from last year, but is likely to be close to 0.75 mile swim, 22 mile bike, 4.9 mile run. No wetsuits, flat bike with less than perfect pavement, flat two-loop run around the lake. Non-drafting on bike, Charlie Crawford as head official. $540,000 total prize money, $250,000 to first across the line. Final field:
WOMEN (16 total)
Melissa Ashton (AUS)
Liz Blatchford (AUS)
Nicole DeBoom (USA)
Michelle Dillon (GBR)
Rina Hill (NZL)
Michellie Jones (AUS)
Becky Gibbs Lavelle (USA)
Barb Lindquist (USA)
Tereza Macel (CAN)
Laura Reback (USA)
Jill Savege (CAN)
Maxine Seers (AUS)
Sandra Soldan (BRA)
Sheila Taormina (USA)
Susan Bartholomew Williams (USA)
Evelyn Williamson (NZL)
MEN (22 total)
Craig Alexander (AUS)
Paul Amey (GBR)
Greg Bennett (AUS)
Hamish Carter (NZL)
Tim DeBoom (USA)
Tony DeBoom (USA)
Bevan Docherty (NZL)
Tim Don (GBR)
Rasmus Henning (DEN)
Chris Hill (AUS)
Hunter Kemper (USA)
Brian Lavelle (USA)
Lothar Ledar (GER)
Simon Lessing (GBR)
Eneko Llanos (ESP)
Olivier Marceau (SUI)
Filipe Ospaly (CZE)
Matthew Reed (NZL)
Peter Robertson (AUS)
Conrad Stoltz (RSA)
Craig Walton (AUS)
Simon Whitfield (CAN)
DROP-OUTS
Julie Dibens (injury?)
Loretta Harrop (injury)
Carol Montgomery (racing Hungary World Cup)
Andrea Whitcombe (racing Hungary World Cup)
Joanna Zeiger (injury)
Erika Csomor (hopeless swimmer)
Chris McCormack
Miles Stewart (injury)
Luc van Lierde
Don’t know why McCormack isn’t there . . . but with the potential reward, it must be an injury. Zeiger crashed hard in T2 at the Corner Brook World Cup on July 20 and was in obvious distress on the run.
i’ll bet rasmus breaks into the top 10. one thing about your predictions. you seem to be acknowledging that the women are going to get a favorable leave interval. and i think you’re right.
Fleck, yeah I think they limited the numbers to around 20 for each. Each person racing will probably win money. If it was a drafting race I would put the name a lot differently (I would have Jill Savege number two), but with non drafting that changes a few things. They probably increased the mens field to fill the gap left by the injuries in the womens?
A nine minute send off,??..wasn’t it like 7 minute something last year??
Nine mins seems too much, I dont know, ,any be that is the same as last year.
I love this race , the format and the payout. The CEO of Ballys is really stepping up for triathlon. Lets face it , pros are pros , they are paid to race, and win prize money. Its about time triahtlon gets a payout. Im sick of golfers, pro beach volleyball, virtually every other sport getting biggers payouts then triathlon.
25,000 grand for a North american IM win (IMUSA last week) seems pretty paltry to me, for a very tough 8-9 hours work, not counting th 35-30 hour weeks leading up to it.
I think it is about time thw WTC bellies up and matches or surpasses this prize purse for Kona. What is it right now.? 100,000 for the winner? I think the prize purse should be at least 500,000. Dont tell me the WTC doesn’t have it.
Looking forward to watching the race Sat PM.
I agree with 9 mins, and only a 22 mi bike and 4.9 mi run, the women may come out ahead again…but I hope not.
Agreed. 9+ minutes seems like a huge advantage for the women. Generally, speaking there is a 9 - 10 minute differential between men and women in an Olympic distance race and this is shorter, so it should be less here.
The Simons are going to have a tough time chasing that down. Maybe I should change my prediction!
It was a 9:31-9:39 minute start gap last year (can’t remember which one) and that worked quite well. The bike course has changed, not the distance, but the course. It will still be very flat and very fast, with a few less turns. The roads are actually not bad. There is only about a 1 mile stretch where there is some chewed-up pavement, otherwise a lot of the bad sections from last year have been recently resurfaced.
I was at the pro meeting yesterday and I heard (read: RUMOR) Macca had a family emergency he needed to take care of. I won’t say exactly what I heard (privacy), especially because I haven’t confirmed this with him, but I heard it was not an injury.
Too bad he isn’t racing… Macca is a great guy and would certainly give everyone a run for their money.
what’s my bad? the only thing i did was evince surprise at the idea that bally’s CEO is tooting the tri horn. the CEO of life time fitness is, but bally’s bought his old chain (U.S. swim and fitness) and after he served his time in non-compete jail he started life time and is competing against bally’s.
as far as i know, bally’s isn’t in triathlon to any great level (tho they used to be the sponsor of my series, way back when).