Tom Jeffrey Wins U.S. Pro Duathlon National Championships
By Mike McCormick
Posted Tuesday, 2 October, 2007
Tom Jeffrey earned his second consecutive U.S. Pro Duathlon National Champion title with a second place finish on Sunday, September 30th, at the 2007 Elite Duathlon National Championships held at the Powerman Ohio Duathlon in Malabar Farm State Park in Lucas, Ohio.
“It was good to win the national championships again,” said Jeffrey, 34, of Richmond, whose time of 2 hours 27 minutes 36 seconds over the 8K run (4.97 miles)-58K bike (36 miles)-8K (4.97 miles) run course, earned him second in the Powerman Duathlon to Belgian Duathlete Joerie Vansteelant, who won the event in 2 hours 22 minutes 20 seconds. As a Belgian national, Vansteelant was ineligible to win the U.S. National Championships.
Third place went to American Dereck Treadwell, who finished with a time of 2 hours 31 minutes even.
Jeffrey’s victory in the U.S. Pro Duathlon National Championships points him up as the top American contender for the 2007 McDonald’s ITU Duathlon Long Course World Championships, which will be held in Richmond, VA on Sunday October 21st. Jeffrey finished 10th in the 2006 world championships in Denmark.
“I feel like I’m fit and I just have to go out and race,” said Jeffrey. “You never know what can happen in these longer races.”
And with the sport reeling from the news of the death of current world champion, Benny Vansteelant, the result of injuries sustained in a collision with a car during a bike training ride near his home in Tourhout, Belgium on Saturday, September 8th, all eyes are on Joerie Vansteelant, Benny’s younger brother. His dominating performance in Ohio has many thinking that despite his personal grief and sorrow, he has assumed his dead brother’s position as the odds-on favorite to win the world championships.
The McDonald’s ITU Duathlon World Championships will follow a run-bike-run format over two loop courses. The run loop, portions of which follow downtown Richmond’s scenic Canal Walk, is 7.5 kilometers in length. The bike loop, which winds along parks and neighborhoods bordering the James River, is 20 kilometers in length. Athletes will run 15 kilometers (two run-course loops), bike 80 kilometers (four bike-course loops) and then run a finale of 7.5 kilometers, (one last run-course loop).
Five hundred athletes from 25 countries will compete in Richmond. The strongest contingents will come from duathlon powerhouses like Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, and Spain, while the largest contingents will come from multi-sport stalwarts Australia, Canada and the United States. While the age groupers will be vying for international recognition and bragging rights, the elites will be dividing up a prize purse of $50,000 -- $25,000 for the men and $25,000 for the women.
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