OCEANSIDE, California - If there were any doubts remaining about Andy Potts’ fitness before the second qualifier for the 2008 U.S. men’s Olympic Team, the American star shattered them March 29 at Ford Ironman 70.3 California with his devastating win over Craig Alexander. Potts, who won Oceanside last year, held off the late-charging Aussie to break the tape and take the crown in 3:58:22, just three seconds ahead of the 2007 Ironman Hawaii silver medalist.

In the women’s race, Erika Csomor of Hungary defeated all the pre-race favorites—a world champion triad of Samantha McGlone, Michellie Jones and Mirinda Carfrae—to win her first 70.3 title, her most significant victory since the International Triathlon Union long-course duathlon championship in 2005. Csomor’s win and ostensibly revamped racing fitness comes after only five weeks of training with coach Brett Sutton’s Team TBB, which includes rags-to-riches long-course stars Chrissie Wellington and Reinaldo Colucci.

Less surprising than Csomor’s win was the sight of NCAA pool star Potts leading all men out of the 1.2-mile swim in Oceanside Harbor by a significant margin in 22:13, 14 seconds faster than Boulder, Colorado’s Cameron Dye and more than a minute up on the rest of the field. Potts continued his lead on the bike as the course wound through the private confines of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Camp Pendleton, with Dye behind by 1:10 at the 10-mile mark, followed by Great Britain’s Fraser Cartmell, bike powerhouse Bjorn Andersson and a pack of cyclists that included Alexander, Australia’s Paul Ambrose, Germany’s Andi Boecherer, Aussie Richie Cunningham and American überbiker David Thompson. By Mile 25 of the bike, Potts had increased his lead to 1:27 over Andersson, who had assumed the front of a group consisting of Ambrose, Thompson, Alexander, Boecherer, Great Britain’s Jonathan Hotchkiss and Cartmell, respectively. A few rolling hills later, nothing had changed, and by Mile 50, it was still Potts, 1:20 up on Thompson, Cartmell, Andersson, Ambrose and Alexander, in that order.

“I’ve been training hard and wanted to go out and challenge myself,” said Potts, who finished the 56-mile leg in a time of 2:18:46. “I thought I was going to get reeled in on the bike, but I never did.”

Running out of T2, Potts looked strong and confident, happy to have a minute over Thompson, who is more renowned for his cycling prowess than his running legs. But the Potts’ real threat was just over a minute back: Alexander, who had closed the gap between himself and his contenders with a speedy end-bike and quick transition.

On the double out-and-back half-marathon course, Potts was able to maintain his margin over Alexander—1:10, 1:30, 1:20—as Thompson faded. In fact, it seemed like a sure win for the 31-year-old American … until the last two miles.

“All of a sudden,” said Potts, “this guy yells that [Alexander is] 200 yards behind me. Two hundred? I thought the guy’s got a real lack of depth perception. Maybe 400, but no way is he two hundred.”
But Potts’ sideline watchdog was right—Alexander had made up more than a minute off the bike to nip at the heels of the 2004 Olympian only minutes from the finish line.

“I hit him with some pretty hard surges and he responded,” said Alexander, who ran two five-minute miles, albeit “downhill and with the wind,” just to catch Potts. “In fact, I hit him with everything but the kitchen sink.” But Crowie’s everything—a 1:12:50 half-marathon, the second best of the day—couldn’t knock out Potts, who closed only three seconds ahead of the Aussie for the California crown in 3:58:22.

When asked if he was concerned about racing such a long event only three weeks before the Olympic Trials in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Potts replied, “No, not at all. I felt like I wanted to get one race under my belt before Trials. It’s hard to go into an important race stale.”

Ambrose finished third in 4:03:35.

Csomor knocks out a killer bike

Photo: Jay Prasuhn

In the women’s race, there was no steady frontrunner like Potts, and the leader’s chalice changed hands many times before Hungary’s Csomor took it from Cave—and kept it. Out of the water, it was swim-wonder and 2007 Ironman Hawaii split-winner Linda Gallo in a time of 24:15, 41 seconds better than Great Britain’s Cave and almost two minutes ahead of Aussie Jones. But once the women mounted their bikes, Cave, last year’s ITU long-course world champion, took off like a rocket, leading Jones by 54 seconds and the U.S.’s Amy Marsh, Canada’s McGlone, Australia’s Carfrae and the Czech Republic’s Tereza Macel by a minute and a half at Mile 10.

Cave held her lead until midway through the bike when Jones edged her out to muscle a four-second margin. By Mile 33, after a duathlete-like slow swim, Csomor made up enough time to be riding side by side with Carfrae, more than a minute back of Jones and Cave; by Mile 42, Csomor had left Carfrae to be merrily cresting along with Cave. But as fast as her second split was—a race-best 2:29:59 for the 56-mile leg—the Hungarian could not bridge the gap to Jones, who came into T2 in the lead in 2:32:26, followed by Cave in 2:33:37 and Csomor only seconds behind the lanky Brit.

Jones, however, who even admitted so after the race, didn’t look as though she felt so good when she took foot to the run, leaving Cave and Csomor to make quick work of the Carlsbad, California, resident in the first few miles. By Mile 8 of the run, Csomor had also made quick work of Cave, pulling a 55-second lead over the Brit that she only increased. After a second-best 1:20:28 half-marathon, Csomor had the win handily in 4:23:14.

“I knew I was in good shape because I could keep up with the best of the girls,” said Csomor of her Team TBB training partners, mainly Wellington and six-time Ironman champion Belinda Granger. Csomor has been training with the team in the Philippines for five weeks.

As speedy as Csomor’s half-marathon time was, one female did run faster: 2007’s 70.3 world champion, Carfrae, who laid down a race-best 1:19:32 to take second place in 4:25:51. “I came into this race knowing I could run well,” said Carfrae, 27, the Aussie prodigy of ITU world champion Siri Lindley. “I just didn’t know how well I could run off the bike.” Now Carfrae, who says she will target another win at Clearwater this year, has her answer.

Rounding out the top three was Cave in 4:26:40. “I thought I was a lot more unfit,” said Cave, noting she finished fifth at Oceanside last year. “I try to build into the season slowly, so I was real surprised to be in the lead at one point.”

Ford Ironman 70.3 California
Oceanside, California
Saturday, March 29, 2008
1.2mi S/56mi B/13.1mi R

Men’s Results
1 POTTS, ANDY (USA) 03:58:22
2 ALEXANDER, CRAIG (AUS) 03:58:25
3 AMBROSE, PAUL (AUS) 04:03:35
4 THOMPSON, DAVID (USA) 04:05:31
5 CUNNINGHAM, RICHIE (AUS) 04:05:38

Women’s Results
1 CSOMOR, ERIKA (HUN) 04:23:14
2 CARFRAE, MIRINDA (AUS) 04:25:51
3 CAVE, LEANDA (GBR) 10 04:26:40
4 JONES, MICHELLIE (AUS) 04:28:51
5 MCGLONE, SAMANTHA (CAN) 04:29:23