Life Time Tri Finale Set For Sunday In Oceanside

Americans Ben Collins and Alicia Kaye will look for the series’ titles this weekend in Southern California.

The final event in the 2014 Life Time Tri Series will take place this Sunday, Oct. 26 at Oceanside Harbor near San Diego, the same venue used for the popular Ironman 70.3 California every spring. Nearly 1,000 athletes will be participating in the two distances: international/Olympic (1500-meter swim, 40K bike, 10K run) and sprint (400-meter swim, 15-mile bike, 3.1-mile run).

Professional athletes, who will be racing the Olympic-distance race will be competing for their share of a $450,000. This is the second year the final race of the Life Time Tri Series, presented by Toyota, will be held in Oceanside, and the race also serves as the final event in the Toyota Triple Crown Series. The individual race awards will total $200,000, while an additional $200,000 will be awarded to the overall series (male and female) champions this weekend. In addition, as part of the Toyota Triple Crown Series, the top female or male triathlete with the best overall time who competes in Life Time Tri Minneapolis, New York City Triathlon and Life Time Tri Oceanside will be awarded $50,000. (The winner will be declared at Oceanside using an “equalizer” time handicap format.)

RELATED PHOTOS: 2014 Ironman 70.3 California

The Course
The course will start with a swim in Oceanside Harbor before riding along the San Luis Rey Mission Expressway. The run course follows white, sandy beaches, allowing for a spectator-fueled finish adjacent to the historic Oceanside Pier.

The Pro Race
In the men’s race, topping the leaderboard in the series is American Ben Collins, whose season has included victories in New York City and Minneapolis and podium finishes in Chicago and Dallas. Second in the series is American Cam Dye, who has won the series the last two years. Known for his bike strength, Dye has had victories at Life Time Tri CapTex in Dallas and in South Beach this season. Outside of the race for the series, the battle for the Oceanside title will be competitive with ITU and 70.3 world champion Javier Gomez (ESP), 2013 Kona runner-up Luke McKenzie (AUS) and four-time Olympian Hunter Kemper (USA) all making the start. Other top racers this weekend will be Americans Tommy Zaferes, a retired Olympic trials swimmer who races mostly on the draft-legal ITU circuit, and Joe Maloy, who’s had two top-10 performances at ITU World Cup races over the past month, Barrett Brandon and Eric Lagerstrom.

In the women’s race, Canadian-turned-American Alicia Kaye tops the overall series rankings (men and women). The defending series champion and Toyota Triple Crown winner won in Chicago, New York and Minneapolis this season as well as podiumed at CapTex and South Beach. She was also the runner-up at the extremely competitive Hy-Vee 5150 Elite Cup this year. Ranked second is 2012 Olympian Radka Vodickova of the Czech Republic, who was the runner-up to Kaye in Chicago, New York and Minneapolis. Ranked third is American Jillian Petersen, who had podium finishes in New York and Minneapolis this season. Also look for two-time Life Time series champ Sarah Haskins to race well after battling an injury much of the season; for super-swimmer Sara McLarty to be first out of the water; and for 2012 Olympian and Canadian Paula Findlay, who’s coached by Siri Lindley, to nab a top spot. Other Americans to watch for include up-and-comer Katie Hursey and multiple Ironman winner Mary Beth Ellis.

RELATED PHOTOS: 2014 Life Time Tri Minneapolis

Pro Men
1 Cameron Dye
2 Javier Gomez
3 Ben Collins
4 Hunter Kemper
5 Luke McKenzie
7 Barrett Brandon
10 Eric Lagerstrom
11 Joe Maloy
13 Davide Giardini
14 Tom Eickelberg
15 Yu Hsiao
16 Chris Foster
17 Jim Lubinski
18 Felipe Guedes
19 Sam Holmes
20 Kyle Hughes
21 Daniel Meehan
22 Andrew Mueller
23 Matthew Organista
24 Jason Pedersen
25 Joel-Tyler Rodgers
26 Fernando Toldi
28 Alex Willis
29 Matthew Wisthoff
30 Tommy Zaferes
31 Dylan Bridges-Oliva

Pro Women
51 Alicia Kaye
52 Mary Beth Ellis
53 Sara McLarty
54 Jillian Petersen
55 Abby Geurink
56 Lauren Brandon
57 Radka Vodickova
58 Sarah Haskins
61 Emily Cocks
62 Paula Findlay
63 Beth Gerdes
64 Amanda Hahn
65 Katie Hursey
66 Elizabeth Noey

For more information, visit Lifetimetri.com.