Lindquist is Quarter-Million Dollar Woman - Triathlon Week

Robert G. · 08-04-2003, 05:09 PM

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 4, 2004) - Barb Lindquist held off a host of the world's fastest male triathletes to win the $250,000 prize for first place at the Life Time Fitness Triathlon in Minneapolis, Minn., on Saturday.

Lindquist (Victor, Idaho) and the other female competitors were given a 9 minute, 41-second head start against the men in the race's unusual "equalizer" format. Her finish time for the 0.75-mile swim, 21.3-mile bike and 4.7-mile run was 1:35:52. She was 43 seconds ahead of Canada's Simon Whitfield, the 2000 Olympic triathlon gold medalist, and 48 seconds ahead of Australia's Greg Bennett, who is ranked No. 1 in the world by the International Triathlon Union (ITU).

Lindquist, who is ranked No. 1 in the world among the women, is used to being chased, only it's usually by females.

"I'm always racing from the front," she told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "For the last three or four years, I've had a target on my back. This [race] just happens to have some people with a different chromosome chasing me."

It was Lindquist's second victory at Life Time Fitness, but this year the race had the richest prize purse in triathlon history: $500,000. Whitfield won $50,000 for finishing as the first man and second overall and Bennett won $35,000 for finishing as the second male and third overall.

Bevan Docherty of New Zealand was the third-place man and fourth overall. Hunter Kemper (Longwood, Fla.) was the top U.S. male finisher in seventh, and eighth-place overall. His prize was $6,000. Rina Hill of Australia finished second among the women and ninth overall and Australia's Liz Blatchford was third among the women and 12th overall.

Complete results are available at www.ltftriathlon.com.

Mark Fretta (Portland, Ore.) was the top U.S. finisher on a hot Sunday at the ITU World Cup race in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary. Fretta finished 12th behind winner Volodymyr Polikarpenko of Ukraine, who won in 1:46:29. Dmitriy Gaag of Kazakhstan was second in 1:46:40 and Andrew Johns of Great Britain was third in 1:46:49.

Brian Fleischmann (Jacksonville, Fla.) also made it into the top 20, finishing 18th.

In the women's race, Amanda Pagon (Glenn Dale, Md.) was the top American in 42nd. Anja Dittmer (Germany) won the race in 1:57:11. Nadia Cortassa (Italy) was second in 1:57:15 and Emma Snowsill (Australia) was third in 1:57:18.

Complete results are posted at www.triathlon.org.

The race was Olympic distance (1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run) and draft legal. The ITU World Cup Series now heads for New York City on Sunday. The New York ITU World Cup is boasting a stellar field, including seven of the top 10 men in the world and three of the top 10 women.

source: USA Triathlon