Richards Bay, South Africa (May 4, 2008) - Carolyn Murray of Canada pulled off quite an upset, winning today's Richards Bay BG Triathlon World Cup, the first world cup title of her career. Aussie Felicity Abram took the silver with a strong finish while last year's silver medalist Magali Di marco of Switzerland made the podium for the second straight year, holding on for bronze.
American Olympic hopeful Sarah Groff emerged from the water first and was up 22 seconds on the chasers and more than a full minute on Murray who exited the water in 35th place. Riding solo on the 40-kilometer bike course, Groff had to work hard to build a 35-second lead. But in the fourth lap, Groff was swallowed up by the chase group that included all the major pre-race favorites including German Ricarda Lisk, Nicky Samuels of New Zealand, Abram and Di marco Messmer, the 2000 Olympic bronze medalist.
After 28 kilometers, the second chase pack caught up with the lead group after strong cycling by Murray and Austrian Tania Haiboeck. With the exception of a mini breakaway by Samuels, 36 women rode together for the last stages and into T2.
Surprisingly Murray and Haiboeck led after the first lap of the 10-kilometer run. Just shy of the halfway mark Murray started to break away and took a slim 4-second lead on fellow Canadian Kathy Tremblay and Di marco. With Abram charging hard in the late stages, Murray held on for the biggest win of her career and sends a strong message that she is one of the contenders for Olympic selection. She now needs a top-8 finish at the world championships in Vancouver for an automatic berth. The last Canadian woman to win a world cup was here in Richards Bay last year when Kirsten Sweetland broke through for her first world cup title.
With a strong finishing kick, Abram overtook Di marco for the silver and her second world cup podium of 2008. In a pre-race interview, the Aussie Abram said she would donate a significant amount of her prize money winnings to black township kids after doing a safari tour yesterday. This was the 199th world cup in ITU's history.
2008 Richards Bay BG Triathlon World Cup
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Elite Women - Official Results
1 - Murray, Carolyn (CAN) 2:03:32
2 - Abram, Felicity (AUS) 2:03:35
3 - Di marco, Magali (SUI) 2:03:41
4 - Tremblay, Kathy (CAN) 02:03:51
5 - Lisk, Ricarda (GER) 02:04:11
6 - Samuels, Nicky (NZL) 02:04:20
7 - Haiboeck, Tania (AUT) 02:04:24
8 - Lorblanchet, Marion (FRA) 02:04:28
9 - Davis, Emma (IRL) 02:04:29
10 - Czesnik, Maria (POL) 02:04:36
Click here for full field results
