Monday Morning Race Hangover

Another big weekend of racing for Team Newton. Crowie, Michellie, Heather Fuhr and Josh Cox were all busy….

“As the Crow flies”
Current Ironman World Champion, Craig “Crowie” Alexander has recorded another scorching victory, this time in the Ironman 70.3 Hawaii. A flying final run leg saw him claw back an 8 minute lead to highly regarded American Chris Lieto, to find his way home first and clinch another title on the hallowed shores of the Kona coast.

Fellow Australian Luke McKenzie, Chris Lieto, local Timothy Marr and Alexander were together after the frantic frolic swim in the North Pacific. It was Lieto though who pushed to an early lead on the volcanic cycle route to Hawi as he has done so many times before. Whilst a flock that included Alexander, McKenzie and Marr jostled into the final transition together, assailant Lieto was well out of sight and ensured a white hot run race pace in the Big Island’s steamy conditions.

As Alexander proved last year in October, his foot speed is difficult to match as he seems to float over the hot surfaces of Hawaii and his timing impeccable. A fast finishing run of 1:17:12 and overall finish time of 4:02:52 demonstrated he is well on course to take his 2008 achievements to new heights. Lieto held on for second place in 4:05:34. Whilst McKenzie had the second best run of the day, 1:26:26 and was welcomed across the line third in 4:11:58.

Alexander will now base himself at altitude in Boulder Colorado for the next 4 months, focusing on a hectic North American season before for he and his family migration back to Hawaii for the Ironman World Championships later in the season.

Craig’s next race is still being decided, but he is anticipating some less taxing temperatures but another tough hit out.

================================================

Michellie Jones wins the Orange County Duathlon, on May 30, 2009.   She continues on her quest for speed – and it looks like it is being successful.
Next up for Michellie is the Escape From Alcatraz event – where she is an 8x winner.

================================================
To round out the weekend – Heather Fuhr steps into the Rock N Roll Marathon San Diego.  Finishing in 2:48.29 good enough for a 6th Place finish.  This was Fuhr’s first ever stand alone road marathon.

Josh Cox also ran part of the RnR Marathon –  helping pace Tom Bedford, (son of former 10,000m world record holder & London Marathon director Dave Bedford), in an effort to raise funds for the Entoto Foundation. Tom needs to run sub 2:25 (details are on the site).  Josh brought Tom through the ½ marathon right on pace at:  1:12.01.   Tom was unsuccessful in his bid to run 2:25, but finished the race none the less in a respectable 2:47.45