Reed, Haskins Win Again At Life Time Minneapolis Triathlon

Americans Matt Reed and Sarah Haskins win in Minneapolis for the third year in a row.

Written by: Erin Beresini

The fourth event in the 2011 Lifetime Fitness Race to the Toyota Cup series kicked off this morning in Minneapolis. With a total prize purse of $50,000 ($12,500 of that going to the first place finishers in both the men’s and women’s races), premiums of $833 for the fastest swim, bike and run in each event, and the potential for the series winner to bring home even more cash and a new Toyota vehicle, the pros had a lot riding on their performance today.

Men’s Race
Cameron Dye and Andy Potts came out of the water together with Potts edging out Dye by two seconds for the fastest swim. Filip Ospalay was first to hunt them down, putting time into the super swimmers on the bike. A chase pack of Matt Reed, Brian Lavelle, and Eric Limkemann followed closely behind. By the second half of the bike, Dye had put 15 seconds on Potts, with Osplay 55 seconds back and Potts in hot pursuit. But Matt Reed threw down the hammer on the last miles of the bike, leading Dye and everyone else into T2. Then Reed ran for his life. Getting chased by speedsters like Dye, Bennett and Potts will do that to a guy. Reed held onto his lead to finish first today, making him a three-time champ, followed by Potts and Bennett.

Women’s Race
The women set off before the men to up the race drama by seeing if they could hold off the guys. Sarah Haskins and Sara McLarty proved their swimming prowess, exiting the water first. Haskins led the way out of T1 with McLarty hot on her tail. Fifteen miles into the bike, Haskins built up a 1:10 lead on McLarty with Alicia Kaye 20 seconds behind McLarty and Becky Lavelle and the Wassner twins in a pack 1:10 behind her. Haskins stormed into T2 2:10 ahead of her closest competition (Kaye) and ahead of the men. It seemed like the ladies behind Haskins would be fighting for second, the way Haskins was dominating. She continued to open the throttle and crush the run course, winning the race by over three minutes and breaking two hours. Kaye and Rebeccah Wassner closed out the podium in second and third, respectively.

Life Time Minneapolis Triathlon
Minneapolis, Minn. – July 9, 2011
1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run

Men
1. Matt Reed (USA) 1:50:09
2. Andy Potts (USA) 1:50:22
3. Greg Bennett (USA) 1:50:52
4. Filip Ospaly (CZE) 1:51:26
5. Cameron Dye (USA) 1:53:13

Top swim: Potts in 17:46
Top bike: David Thompson in 56:28
Top run: Kaleb Vanort in 31:22

Women
1. Sarah Haskins (USA) 1:59:57
2. Alicia Kaye (USA) 2:03:23
3. Rebeccah Wassner (USA) 2:04:31
4. Lindsey Jerdonek (USA) 2:06:37
5. Becky Lavelle (USA) 2:07:25

Top swim: McLarty in 19:07
Top bike: Haskins in 1:02:08
Top run: Nicole Kelleher in 36:24