World Triathlon

Local favourite Laura Bennett of the United States won the 2007 Des Moines BG Triathlon World Cup, taking home a record US$200,000 in prize money and another US$65,000 plus in prizes, including a new car.  Bennett finished with a time of 2 hours 4 minutes and 32 seconds.  Former world cup champion Annabel Luxford of Australia managed to hold on to second place 14 seconds back.  Mariana Ohata of Brazil finished third a further 43 seconds back, climbing back from a two minute deficit after the bike. 

Watch exclusive race video now.

The record-breaking prize purse was thanks to the dedicated work of presenting sponsor, American grocer Hy-Vee.

A 1:30pm start time met the 42 Elite women with 34 degree Celsius temperatures and 54% humidity under clear skies.  By the end of the day’s racing only 26 women crossed the finish line, many succumbing to the hot and treacherous conditions.
Bennett would join a small break-away early on the bike, gaining a 2 minute and 46 second lead by the end of the 42-kilometre, challenging bike course.  This lead group of eight women contained many of the top cyclists in the sport such as; Bennett, Luxford, Jessica Harrison of France, Kirsten Sweetland of Canada and another four Americans, Sarah Haskins, Sara McLarty, Julie Swail and Joanna Zeiger.

This group worked flawlessly over the 6-lap, hilly and windy bike course building an insurmountable lead over many of the sports top contenders including; the Aussie contingent of current world champion Emma Snowsill of Australia, world number two ranked Erin Densham and world bronze medalist Felicity Abram; the strong Kiwi duo of Debbie Tanner and Samantha Warriner; as well as the Great Britain team of Michelle Dillon and Andrea Whitcombe.

Early into the 10-kilometre run, many race favourites began to drop like flies.  First was Joelle Franzmann of Germany, next would be Densham, then Snowsill, Di Marco Messmer, Zeiger and Lauren Groves of Canada.  Current world Junior champion, Sweetland ran with Bennett and Luxford for the first nine kilometres before running out of gas, collapsing to the ground with only one kilometre to go.  This enabled a fast approaching Ohata to run her way from the chase group and onto the podium.  Ohata’s run split was the fastest on the day by almost 2 minutes.

Rounding out the top five was Sarah Haskins of the United States and Andrea Whitcombe of Great Britain.

2007 Des Moines BG Triathlon World Cup – Elite Women results
1. BENNETT, Laura (USA) 2:04:32
2. LUXFORD, Annabel (AUS) 2:04:46 +:14
3. OHATA, Mariana (BRA) 2:05:29 +:57
4. HASKINS, Sarah (USA) 2:05:47 +1:15
5. WHITCOMBE, Andrea (GBR)2:05:51 +1:19
6. HARRISON, Jessica (FRA) 2:05:55 +1:23
7. NIWATA, Kiyomi (JPN) 2:06:13 +1:41
8. MOFFATT, Emma (AUS) 2:06:26 +1:54
9. TANNER, Debbie (NZL) 2:06:48 +2:16
10. DILLON, Michelle (GBR) 2:07:22 +2:50

Full results are available here

Watch exclusive race video now.

Click here for the official race gallery

Rasmus Henning of Denmark received the best Father’s Day gift of his young parenting life, winning the 2007 Des Moines BG Triathlon World Cup and taking home the biggest payday in triathlon history.  Father of two, Henning’s time of 1 hour 50 minutes and 3 seconds was good enough to claim the US$200,000 first place prize cheque and US$65,000 prize pack that went with it.  Olympic silver medalist Bevan Docherty of New Zealand crossed the line in second position, 30 seconds behind.  Rounding out the top three was world number one ranked Javier Gomez of Spain, a further 12 seconds back.
Watch exclusive race video now.

The record-breaking prize purse was thanks to the generous work of presenting sponsor, American grocer Hy-Vee.

No one broke away over the opening 1,500 metre swim with 41 men exiting the water within 30 seconds of each other.  This large group contained all the top names and would stay together over the opening two laps of the 40-kilometre bike segment.  It would be American Matt Reed to stir things up and take off the front, making a 30 seconds gap over the next two laps and getting some quality airtime on the American broadcaster NBC.  The tall American would not get far however as a group of six, including Henning, managed to catch on to the former Kiwi and enter second transition a minute ahead of the chase group.

From here it was Henning and former Olympic gold medalist and recent Vancouver world cup winner Simon Whitfield of Canada to take to the front and begin to run away with the race.  Henning stayed at the front as a faltering Whitfield was passed by first Docherty, Gomez, current world champion Tim Don of Great Britain and Greg Bennett of Australia in the closing metres.

Don and Bennett finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

2007 Des Moines BG Triathlon World Cup – Elite Men results
1. HENNING, Rasmus (DEN) 1:50:03
2. DOCHERTY, Bevan (NZL) 1:50:33 +:30
3. GOMEZ, Javier (ESP) 1:50:46 +:42
4. DON, Tim (GBR) 1:50:57 +:54
5. BENNETT, Greg (AUS) 1:51:02 +:58
6. WHITFIELD, Simon (CAN) 1:51:08 +1:05
7. SAPUNOV, Daniil (KAZ) 1:51:24 +1:21
8. SHOEMAKER, Jarrod (USA) 1:51:42 +1:39
9. GLUSHCHENKO, Andriy (UKR) 1:51:44 +1:41
10. RANA, Ivan (ESP) 1:51:50 +1:47

Full results are available here. 

Click here for the official race gallery

Watch exclusive race video now.