Reid Reigns Again

Bowden’s gap up to Badmann was around six minutes. Badmann, who said she felt “empty” on the bike, headed into T2 behind the eight-second lead of Nina Kraft who promptly served a three minute drafting penalty.

Kraft’s post-penalty transition had her running just 2:20 down on Badmann within the first several hundred meters of the run; behind her, Karin Thuerig was running in third and 2:20 back. Thuerig’s 4:50:41 bike split followed her fourth-place finish at the time trial World Championships in Hamilton, Ontario, just last weekend.

Within 10 miles, Bowden had already passed Badmann and was within a minute of Kraft. But Kraft held tenaciously to the lead, surging on Bowden’s advance at least three times. After the race, Bowden compared this back-and-forth jockey for the lead with the typical racing character of her good friends Greg Bennett and Laura Reback—both short course racers.

When Bowden ultimately took the lead before mile 15, she was running strong but wouldn’t begin to celebrate until well within two miles of the finish. Meanwhile, Badmann was reeling Kraft back in---but Kraft wasn’t done with her gamely efforts to hold position and the two traded second and third repeated times. With Bowden running ahead for the win, Kraft and Badmann were pushing one another for second. Badmann held stronger, taking second.

An elated Bowden took the win in highly jubilant form.

Watch for the January issue of Triathlete magazine for in-depth analyses of the women’s, men’s and age group races.

Overall Women
1. Lori Bowden (CAN), 9:11:55
2. Natascha Badmann (SWI), 9:17:08
3. Nina Kraft (GER), 9:17:06
4. Heather Fuhr (CAN), 9:19:02
5. Lisa Bentley (CAN), 9:22:41
6. Karin Theurig (SWI), 9:26:28
7. Gina Kehr (USA), 9:36:11
8. Deirdre Tennant (USA), 9:40:54
9. Kate Major (AUS), 9:46:03
10. Belinda Granger (AUS), 9:46:29

Triathlete Magazine