Dye, Goss Overcome Tough Conditions At Rev3 Knoxville

In pouring and cold rain, two athletes who took second last year at the Rev3 Olympic-distance race in Knoxville brought home the titles this morning. Cameron Dye (USA) and Lauren Goss (USA) led from start to finish in soggy, packed fields at the kick-off to the Rev3 series.

Men
It was the Cameron Dye show in Tennessee this morning. The American was first out of the water in 14:55 and never looked back. Eric Limkemann (USA) followed him into T1 with a 15:02 swim. Doug Van Wie (USA) was close behind, followed by a large group that included Kyle Leto (USA), Brandon Marsh (USA), Ryan Frederickson (USA), Matthew Wisthoff (USA) and Kalen Darling (USA).

Limkemann held onto the second position after the second fastest bike split of the day (58:48) to come into T2 behind Dye. But, no could touch the leader, who was four minutes up by the start of the run after a race best 55:30. The Caveman Conrad Stoltz (ZSA) took his Xterra prowess to the streets and biked a 57:00, close behind Dye and Limkemann, but faded on the run.

While Dye was untouchable with the second fastest run of the day in 33:54, Chris Foster (USA) used a 32:22 run and a 58:23 bike to make up for a slower swim and passed Limkemann for second. Limkemann couldn’t hold onto the podium, though, with his 35:23 run. Kaleb VanOrt (USA) tore through the run, after a middle of the pack swim and bike, and posted a race-best 32:46 to take third.

Women
In a near duplicate of the men’s race, Lauren Goss (USA) led early and led at the finish. Goss and Radka Vodickova (CZE) came out of the water together, after swimming a 16:49 and 16:45, respectively. Zana Baca-Buttermore (USA) was next onto the bike after a 17:34 swim, followed by Samantha Warriner (NZL) in a 17:46 swim. Magalie Tisseyre (CAN) finished the swim over a minute down (18:05), while 2010 Ironman world champion Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) was another 17 seconds back (18:17).

Goss and Vodickova stayed close together on the bike, with Goss biking a 1:06:49 and Vodickova biking a 1:06:49, but Goss was able to enter T2 first. Tisseyre biked a 1:05:16 to close some of the gap from her swim. Carfrae’s 1:08:35 bike leg wasn’t enough to make up time on the top three, but she started to slowly work her way through the field.

Goss pulled away on the run, keeping her lead and crossing the finish line first in 2:03:55 after a 36:35 run, while Vodickova ran a 38:23 for second. Tisseyre ran a 39:31 in the rain to just barely hold off Carfrae by three seconds at the line. Carfrae ran a race-best 36:30 to almost make the podium.

Men
1. Cameron Dye 1:47:53
2. Chris Foster 1:51:16
3. Kaleb VanOrt 1:52:17
4. Eric Limkemann 1:52:54
5. Artem Parienko 1:53:01

Women
1. Lauren Goss 2:03:55
2. Radka Vodickova 2:05:58
3. Magali Tisseyre  2:07:07
4. Mirinda Carfrae 2:07:10
5. Julie Patterson 2:11:45