[ USA TRIATHLON ]
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
The elite women triathletes climbed Kilauea Avenue in Kaimuki during the 40-kilometer bike race of the USA Triathlon yesterday.
Lindquist, Whitfield
win titlesAfter a close call in 2000 trials,
Lindquist is finally an Olympian
Apparently you can run away from your troubles.
Barb Lindquist erased four years of "what ifs" by winning the USA Triathlon yesterday and the automatic berth onto the Olympic team that goes with it, making her 2004 Olympic bid as sweet as her previous one was sour.
"Not making it in 2000 was heartbreaking," Lindquist said. "It makes you stronger and I am over it. It doesn't enter my mind."
In the 2000 Olympic trials in Irving, Texas, Lindquist succumbed to the heat and didn't finish. After a bike crash in another qualifying race, she was forced to stay home despite being ranked fourth in the world and No. 1 in the U.S. Sheila Taormina won that race and turned out to be her greatest challenger in this one.
"I wanted Barb to get it more than anyone else, even myself," Taormina said. "She has been through so much and learned so much about life, it was a traumatic experience as far as sport is concerned. It was like she knew there was nothing worse that could happen to her."
Lindquist, of Victor, Idaho, and Taormina hit the beach together after a rough 1,500-meter swim in the waters off Waikiki and stayed together through a 24.8-mile bicycle ride five times around Diamond Head. After jumping off their bikes for a 6.2-mile run, they decided to part ways.
Taormina made the split first, jumping off her bike and pulling on her running shoes in just 15 seconds. She was drafting with Lindquist up until that point, but the world's top-ranked female triathlete overshot her pit and had to back up to pick up her shoes. She did that in 18 seconds, giving her rival a three-second head start.
"I had a better transition and got out to a good tempo but started cramping," Taormina said. "My mental toughness is not there like Barb's is."
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Barb Lindquist, the top-ranked triathlete in the world, celebrated her victory at the USA Triathlon yesterday.
Lindquist erased the three seconds in just a few hundred feet, and was never challenged by Taormina -- or anyone else -- again. Lindquist won by 12 seconds over Liz Blatchford of Australia in 2 hours, 7 minutes and 21 seconds.
Taormina slipped to fourth behind Susan Williams of Littleton, Colo., during the run through Waikiki.
"We tried and we died," Taormina said. "I've got to go back and find out what went wrong with the run today."
She may want to give her good friend Lindquist a call, since her greatest rival -- Taormina is third in the world -- says she is as determined to get Taormina to her third Olympiad.
"Let's make sure she goes (to the Olympics)," Lindquist said. "That is my next goal."
It was the first Olympic qualifying event to be held in Hawaii. The remaining two spots on the U.S. team will be determined after the World Championship in Portugal in May and a triathlon in Bellingham, Wash., in June.
While Lindquist will get to display the Olympic spirit in Athens, Greece, in August, Alexis Waddel of Seaside, Calif., showed more than enough yesterday.
Waddel took 24 minutes, 44 seconds to complete the swim, putting her in last place by almost two full minutes. But Waddel, who rides a pink bike and wears bright pink pigtails poking out of her bike helmet, never gave up.
"I just wanted to get the swim over and done with," Waddel said. "It was rough out there. I had some problems with my goggles. I wanted to get on the bike and just start and just go and I was thinking don't get lapped by the lead girls. I was going as hard as I can."
After getting on her bike and reeling in three others, all Waddel wanted to do was quit that part of the race as well.
"I hurt so bad. My quads felt like they were on fire. I just wanted to keep going and going. I was pretty excited to get off my bike. I wanted to get off my bike and run."
She suffered some abdominal pain during the first two laps of the run, but stuck it out to finish 15th among 19 competitors, almost 16 minutes behind Lindquist.
Susan Burr of Honolulu added this event to her long list of accomplishments, winning the morning race in 2:16.
Burr used the event to gear up for the Keauhou Half Ironman, and led throughout. She has competed in Japan and Taipei and is a fixture on the leaderboards of local events.
"It was good, I sort of surprised myself that I did so well," Burr said. "I don't care if I win or not, I just want to push myself. It is a little addictive."
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Kemper is the top American
finisher, earning Olympic bid
The race within the race may have made it an anti-climatic finish, but it didn't diminish the glory for Hunter Kemper.
Kemper was the second finisher in yesterday's USA Triathlon but the first American to cross the finish line. He won the race that mattered most in capturing the automatic berth to the Athens Olympics. Kemper edged 74th-ranked Andy Potts, the second American and fourth overall finisher by 24 seconds.
"I'm happy to be going," Kemper said. "I came here to get that job done and I was able to do it. I was happy with that. I came here to be the top American and I was."
Sydney Olympics gold medalist Simon Whitfield made a dazzling dash in the 6.2-mile run to come from behind and beat the pack of Australians that led most of the ITU (International Triathlon Union) race. His first-place time was 1 hour, 55 minutes, 52 seconds.
Australian Miles Stewart finished third, nearly a full minute behind Whitfield, despite jumping off the bike nearly two minutes ahead.
Much like in Sydney, Whitfield stayed within striking range of the leaders before taking it up a notch on the run. He took over the lead with a mile left to overcome the Australian contingent of Stewart, Greg Bennett and Richie Cunningham that led after the bike.
Whitfield didn't seem overwhelmingly ecstatic that he won.
"That was fun. The USA crowd was pretty good," said Whitfield, who bruised his right eye when someone elbowed him during the swim. "The Americans were playing cat and mouse. I was surprised, guys were kinda laying back.
"If three Aussies can get away, one American should be able to. I was surprised, I wanted to see them have a go."
Added Kemper: "It was a different race. I wasn't racing to win the race. My goal was to be the top American. Only at the very end was it like, 'Wait a second, maybe I should be going for the win here.' Now that this is done, I can race more like that."
For much of the triathlon, the Americans battled each other and didn't worry about catching the Australians who broke away during the 24.8-mile bike ride around Diamond Head.
"The international people pushed the pace of the race," said Potts, who earned his second top-five international finish. "So when it came time to cover a break, everybody was cognizant of who was going.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Mark Fretta, of Portland, Ore., showed emotion after crossing the finish line during yesterday's USA Triathlon.
"So when it was a foreigner going, we all look around and say none of the Americans are going so why do I need to chase them down and waste energy. This is such an important race for the Americans. We just had to watch out for the Americans."
Potts was the first one out of the water, a blistering 16 seconds ahead of fellow American Doug Friman. Kemper was fourth and had one of the quicker transition times. He led the second pack of bikers before he lost his shoe and fell back.
Ultimately, it didn't matter, as Kemper and Potts ended the bike in the same pack. Kemper pushed the pace early in the run.
"I didn't really feel that great on the run, but I was able to run well enough to get the job done," said Kemper, who is ranked No. 8 in the world. "I was pushing the pace right out of the start. I knew that I was a strong runner and if I could break those guys mentally early on that I would be OK.
"It's just nice to get it done so early. The last time in 2000 I had to do a lot of trial racing to get there. This time I can take from here until August to do really well in Athens."
Most watching the race cheered the loudest for Kemper crossing the finish line.
Bennett, the world's top-ranked triathlete, led the race after the bike transition. He puffed on his inhaler as he started the run. He finished a surprising sixth.
"My run is my weapon, I just didn't quite get a chance to use it today," Bennett said. "It was just a hard training day, and (the Aussies) said, 'Let's just get a hard workout in.' I would have liked to get a strong push from the Americans, but they didn't."
Mililani's Timothy Marr also used the triathlon as preparation toward another race. Marr, 25, won the open division of the age-group races. He will be competing with the UH Volcano Club in nationals next weekend. Marr ran cross country and swam collegiately for the University of Hawaii-Hilo, but it was his bike leg that put him substantially ahead.
Marr crossed the finish line two minutes ahead of the second-place finisher but was penalized two minutes in the final standings for riding on the left side of the road. It didn't diminish Marr's spirit.
"I was real happy," said Marr, who protested the penalty later. "The whole vibe out here was incredible. The crowd, everyone out there made me so motivated. I hope they do more of these."
