JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Emma Snowsill celebrated after crossing the finish line to win the women's event yesterday.

Fight to the finish

Emma Snowsill and Tim Don
come from behind to earn titles
in the World Cup event

By running down the early leaders in yesterday's JAL Honolulu International Triathlon Union World Cup races, Emma Snowsill and Tim Don now have the rest of the field chasing them in the ITU points race.

Both Snowsill of Australia and Don of Great Britain trailed the leaders after the swim and bike portions of the men's and women's races in Waikiki, but blazed ahead during the run to win the first World Cup event of the 14-race season.

Snowsill caught and passed Loretta Harrop -- who had led throughout the swim and bike -- early in the run to lead an Australian sweep of the top three spots in the women's race. Snowsill, who trailed Harrop by about 35 seconds after the bike, won by nearly 2 minutes in posting a time of 2 hours, 4 minutes, 39 seconds.

Don had to work a bit harder down the stretch of the men's race as he held off American Hunter Kemper by 1 second to win his first World Cup event since 2003, finishing with a time of 1:54:23.

"It takes you to another level when you're at the front of the race and the crowd is going wild, people out here cheering like crazy," Don said of his duel with Kemper.

In addition to World Cup points, Snowsill and Don pocketed an $8,000 first prize for their efforts.

After sneaking up on the leaders during the run, it was Don who was looking over his shoulder as he approached the finish line in the dramatic conclusion to the men's race.

The top 10 swimmers exited the water at Queen's Beach within 16 seconds of each other and France's Stephane Poulat and Seth Wealing of the U.S. broke away from the pack on the five-lap bike ride around Diamond Head.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Great Britain's Tim Don crossed the finish line just ahead of American Hunter Kemper in the men's event yesterday.

Wealing was the first runner to emerge onto Kalakaua Avenue and led for the first two laps, with Don and Kemper gradually closing the gap.

"When we got on the bike the lead was about 2 minutes and I thought it was possible (to catch the leaders)," Don said. "If we started the first 5 (kilometers) strong, which we did, I thought we could catch them. Toward the end I got a bit of a gap and I was able to put my head down and head for home."

Don pulled ahead on the third lap and was able to stay a step ahead of Kemper down the stretch, keeping an eye on the American in the final push.

It was a familiar scenario for Kemper, who settled for runner-up status for the second straight year. He finished 5 seconds behind Canada's Simon Whitfield in the inaugural Honolulu Triathlon last year.

"Two days from now I'll be happy with it," said Kemper, who was competing in his first race of the year. "Going in, if someone said you'd be second, I'd have been happy with that. But right now ...

"It could have gone either way and it didn't happen for me. I usually have a good sprint, and it let me down."

Two local triathletes finished farther back, but were pleased with their performances in an elite field that included 16 Olympians. Matt Seymour, who lives along the race route on Diamond Head, finished in 30th place with a time of 1:59:03. Tim Marr of Mililani was 40th at 2:02:33.

"It's my first (ITU event), so it was a learning experience," Marr said. "I just saw what it was like and realized that I can do it. There's just certain things I have to work on."

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Competitors took to the ocean during first segment of the Honolulu Triathlon Elite Men Division.

Snowsill, the 2003 ITU women's world champion, sat out the early part of last year recovering from an injury and didn't have a chance to defend her title. But she came back to win three events in Australia earlier this year, and posted another victory yesterday morning thanks to a blistering run.

Harrop made the transition from the bike to the run 37 seconds ahead of a group of five competitors chasing her. But Snowsill sprinted after her and pulled into the lead at the corner of Kalakaua and Monsarrat avenues.

"She had a good lead out of the bike and I just really had to put the hammer down and go as hard as I could," Snowsill said.

Harrop, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist, hadn't competed in eight months and was the first swimmer out of the water at Queen's Beach. She led by about 25 seconds as she hopped on the bike and maintained a sizable advantage until the run.

"I haven't raced since the Games and I just wanted to push my swim and bike," Harrop said. "I haven't really started working on my run yet, so I wanted to see how far I could get on the swim and bike."

Snowsill steadily pulled away and crossed the finish line nearly 2 minutes ahead of Harrop, who hung on for second at 2:06:36. Annabel Luxford finished 2 seconds later to place third.

"(Snowsill's) won four races like that and she's definitely been running that strong. I knew she'd run about 3 minutes quicker than me," Harrop said. "I wasn't under any illusions today about how my run was going to go."

Defending champion Barb Lindquist and Williams were the top U.S. finishers, coming in sixth and seventh. Olympic gold medalist Kate Allen of Austria finished 18th.