New Plymouth’s Clark Ellice recorded one of his best performances in elite company when finishing 10th at the rich Des Moines World Cup triathlon event in Iowa yesterday.
On a day when Kiwis dominated the top 10, Ellice held his form over the final stages to finish in one hour 50 minutes 54 seconds, just 34sec behind Great Britain’s Tim Don, who won in 1hr50min20sec. Ellice won US$9000.
Palmerston North’s Kris Gemmell was just four seconds shy of the richest prize in the sport when pipped by Don, who walked away with US$200,000 ($NZ287,395). Gemmell won US$50,000 for his strong finishing surge.
Auckland’s Bevan Docherty also finished strongly, in fourth place earning US$20,000, with Ellice 10th as the Kiwis picked up valuable ranking points towards qualification for the London Olympic Games.
The bulk of the field stayed together throughout the cycle leg, with the only attempted breakaway coming from young New Zealander Ryan Sissons, who stole 20 seconds on the field midway through, only to be reeled in before the 10km run.
Gemmell led off the bike and on to the run but could not match the pace of Don, with the former world champion turning back the clock in a display of running not seen for some years.
Gemmell was impressive as he paced his race almost to perfection to kick clear of Australian Courtney Atkinson to claim second, while Docherty cleared away from fifth-placed Beijing Olympic Champion Jan Frodeno, of Germany.
Earlier, a strong showing from the New Zealand women could not stop an Australian assault in the women’s race, with Emma Snowsill winning from compatriot Emma Moffatt.
Andrea Hewitt was the best of the New Zealanders in fifth place, continuing her consistent run of strong results.
Nicky Samuels finished eighth, closely followed by Debbie Tanner in 11th and Kate McIlroy in 12th.
