Life Time Tri Champions To Be Crowned In Oceanside Sunday

Published October 18, 2013 05:02PM

The inaugural Life Time Tri Oceanside, the seventh and final race in the 2013 Life Time Tri Series and Toyota Triple Crown, will take place Sunday, Oct. 20 in Oceanside Harbor, near San Diego, Calif. The race has attracted top Olympic-distance non-drafting pro athletes, who will be competing for their share of a $40,000 prize purse, with $8,000 going to the winner.

The Oceanside race will also determine the overall Life Time Tri Series champions, who will walk away with $50,000 each (the series championship pays five deep, with $5,000 going to fifth place). Athletes have been accumulating points all season toward the overall series—10 points for each win all the way down to one point for 10th place, plus 0.5 points for the fastest swim, bike and run—and Oceanside will count for double points.

In addition, the Oceanside Triathlon is the culmination of the Toyota Triple Crown, a series within the series, where one pro athlete will walk away with an additional $50,000. To qualify, the athletes have had to race in the Minneapolis and Chicago races, which both used the equalizer format (the pro women start about 10 minutes before the pro men), and the Oceanside race will follow the same format. The fastest cumulative three-race total (with an equalizer for women) will determine the winner.

The race will start with a 1500-meter swim in the protected Oceanside Harbor, then athletes will ride 40K on the San Luis Rey Mission Expressway and finish with a 10K run along the Oceanside coastline.

Pro Race

In the men’s race, four-time Olympian and American Hunter Kemper leads the series standings, as he’s raced in all six series races so far and took the CapTex and Chicago titles with his speedy run. But with 45.5 points, Kemper’s only 2.5 points ahead of American Ben Collins (43 points), who won the early-season Nautica South Beach Triathlon and has podiumed at CapTex and Chicago. American Cameron Dye, known for his bike strength, is third in the series, with 38.5 points, but he’s also one to watch this weekend, as he’s the reigning Race to the Toyota Cup champion and took three LTF series wins this season—Minneapolis, Tempe and Dallas. The only race he raced in the series and didn’t win (he didn’t race South Beach or Chicago) was CapTex, where he finished fourth. Fourth in the standings is Great Britain’s Stuart Hayes (32 points), who’s had podium finishes at Minneapolis, Chicago and Dallas. The winner of the overall series will likely be one of those four men, who are all within 13.5 points of each other. Also look for Aussie James Seear or American Joe Maloy to vie for a podium finish and nab the fifth-place spot in the series.

In the women’s race, American Alicia Kaye has been dominant, especially on the bike, and raced all six races, earning wins at CapTex, Minneapolis, Chicago, Tempe and Dallas. The only race she didn’t win—the early-season Nautica South Beach Triathlon—she was the runner-up. She currently leads the series with 52.5 points, 12.5 points ahead of second place. But with double points in Oceanside, Kaye doesn’t have the series completely buttoned up. In second, with 40 points, is American Lauren Goss, who’s had podium finishes at South Beach, Minneapolis, Tempe and Dallas and is known for her run strength. Only 1.5 points behind Goss, sitting in third in the series, is Denmark’s Helle Frederiksen, who won the Nautica South Beach Triathlon and podiumed at Chicago, Tempe and Dallas.

Pro Men
Hunter Kemper (USA)
Ben Collins (USA)
Cameron Dye (USA)
Stuart Hayes (GBR)
Joe Maloy (USA)
James Seear (AUS)
Kevin Everett (USA)
Chris Foster (USA)
Eric Lagerstrom (USA)
Dustin McLarty (USA)
Michael Poole (NZL)
Matty Reed (USA)
Barrett Brandon (USA)
Bryan Rhodes (NZL)
Jason Smith (USA)
Nathan Dressel (USA)
Robert Duncan (USA)
Sam Holmes (USA)
Chris Wiatr (USA)
Davide Giardini (USA)
Derek Oskutis (USA)
Felipe Van De Wyngard (CHI)
Jens Toft (DEN)
Jim Lubinski (USA)
Joe Skipper (GBR)
Karl Bordine (USA)
Kyle Leto (USA)
Mauro Cavanha (BRA)
Nickolaus Early (USA)
Rudy Kahsar (USA)
Tom Eickelberg (USA)

Pro Women
Alicia Kaye (USA)
Lauren Goss (USA)
Helle Frederiksen (DEN)
Sara McLarty (USA)
Jillian Petersen (USA)
Abby Geurink (USA)
Lauren Brandon (USA)
Sierra Snyder (USA)
Lesley Smith (USA)
Amanda Hahn (USA)
Fernanda Bau (BRA)
Leanna Lee (CAN)
Bethany Handley (USA)
Moka Best (USA)
Angela Naeth (CAN)
Christina Person (USA)
Jenna Parker (USA)
Jennifer Spieldenner (USA)
Rachel Challis (NZL)