It seemed for a long time that Georgia Taylor-Brown would win the brand-new Supertri Boston, but during the final run Jeanne Lehair proved to be of an otherworldly level, eventually running to a stunning victory.
In Boston – a new venue for Supertri – the program featured the so-called Enduro format. That format will also be used at the other races, so there will be no more switching between different race formats, as was the case before. The Enduro format involves a 300-meter swim, a 4-kilometer bike ride and a 1.6-kilometer run, and when that’s done, the athletes dive straight into the water for a second heat over the same distances. Even after that, it’s not finished, because again without a break, a third and all-deciding heat then follows. If you swim, bike or run ninety seconds behind the leader, you will be eliminated from the race.
Heat 1 – Taylor-Brown makes first difference
It was Brazilian Vittoria Lopes who came out of the water first, followed by Jeanne Lehair and Kate Waugh, among others. On the bike, it was hard work for everyone to get into the leading group – because if you didn’t end up there, it could be a short day – and eventually ten women succeeded. The battle was initially missed by none other than Olympic Champion Cassandre Beaugrand, but also women like Taylor Spivey, Leonie Periault, Cathia Schär, Katie Zaferes and Barbara de Koning. Still, not much later everyone got back together, although Georgia Taylor-Brown, Waugh, Lehair, Jessica Fullagar and Olivia Mathias immediately went off to grab a lead of a few seconds as well. With that small lead – seven seconds – the first run began.
Led by Taylor-Brown, the pace was brisk during that first 1.6 kilometers, but her four co-leaders were able to keep up with her at first. Yet halfway through Mathias and Fullagar lost the connection and Lehair and Waugh also had to give in about two seconds. Logically the differences were small, but Taylor-Brown gave a clear signal.
Heat 2 – Waugh grabs small gap, Zaferes first dropout
During the swim, Taylor-Brown lost her lead again, which meant that a leading group of nine women reappeared at the front. On the bike it was then Waugh who stepped up the pace once again, causing the leading group to thin out quickly, leaving only Taylor-Brown, Lehair, Fullagar and Mathias at the front in addition to Waugh. Meanwhile, Zaferes was the first athlete to be eliminated.
As the five leading women began the second run, it was Waugh who flew out of the transition area and immediately grabbed a lead of about three seconds, and she eventually began the swim with that lead as well.
Heat 3 – Spivey on the attack, Lehair too strong
Once again the fastest women got back together during the swim. In this, there was especially a leading role for Spivey, who joined Waugh, Taylor-Brown and Lehair, leaving four leading women at the start of the final bike leg. These four women continued to work well together on the bike, increasing their lead so much that it was already clear that they would compete for the podium spots. Meanwhile, during this lap, several women fell off at a considerable disadvantage and therefore got eliminated.
In the final meters on the bike, Taylor-Brown tried to create a gap and that attack visibly hurt Spivey and Lehair, while Waugh seemingly jumped along in her compatriot’s wheel. Spivey was also able to catch up, but Lehair was a few seconds behind and had to chase during the final run.
Spivey was the fastest out of the Transition Area and seemed inimitable for a moment, but soon Taylor-Brown took over the initiative. That didn’t last long either, because as often happens in these kinds of ultra-short races, it was then Lehair who came back strongly and in turn passed Taylor-Brown. That went so fast that no one could follow her, and so Lehair eventually ran to victory. Taylor-Brown was second five seconds later and Waugh third 11 seconds later.
