Last year, the Honolulu Triathlon put on by renowned race director Bill Burke served as the U.S. elite championship, and pros Julie Ertel and Andy Potts took exciting wins. This year, with the U.S. elite championship moved to Hagg Lake in Oregon to join up with the USA Triathlon amateur nationals, Honolulu came back with a sold out age group field of 1200 to join with Hawaii’s Tinman and Lavaman to comprise a nice people’s triple crown for short course aficionados in the Aloha State.

On Sunday, Australian Luke McKenzie and Hawaii’s own Bree Wee took the elite wins at the Honolulu Triathlon.

The women

Wee, who just turned pro after scoring the overall amateur woman title – and an age group course record – with a 9:47:40 finish at the Ironman World Championship in Kona last October, won yet another Hawaii triathlon. Wee’s 20:19 swim put 30 seconds on closest chaser Laura Springer and her 58:54 bike added another 2:06 to her lead. Then Wee’s 37-flat run – just 49 seconds slower than the third place elite male Marr – added another 4 minutes 45 seconds to finish with an 11 minute one second margin over runner-up Springer.

Wee has begin her first year as a pro well, scoring a women’s overall win and 6th place overall at Lavaman in 2:04:51, a 9th place against a tough pro field at St. Anthony’s and a third at St. Croix Ironman 70.3 behind international stars Mirinda Carfrae and Nina Kraft.

The men

McKenzie broke away from fellow Australian Michael Simpson and Mililani, Hawaii pro Timothy Marr with a race-best 51:51 bike that gave the Aussie long course pro a three-minute lead going into the run.

“I had a shocker of a swim by my standards,” said McKenzie. “Michael Simpson had won in LA and I'm a long course specialist (McKenzie finished third at Ironman Western Australia in 2004 and took a second to Oscar Galindez at the Cancun Ironman 70.3 last year), so I knew I had to establish a bit of a lead. It was one of those rides that just came easy, so by the time I hit transition, I had three minutes.”

McKenzie’s closing 35:22 10k got him to the finish in 1:47:25, enough to hold off Simpson’s race-best 34:27 run by a margin of 2 minutes 22 seconds.

“It was really hot by the time we started the run, so I didn’t want to go out too hard and blow up,” said McKenzie. “I’d laid it all out at Ironman Australia last month and paid for when I blew up and dropped to fifth there at the end. I’d also raced Wildflower before I had fully recovered and had my worst race ever. But today, I was back to myself again and had my best Olympic distance race yet.”

McKenzie paid tribute to recent training partner Tim Marr. “Tim just finished third at Ironman China, so I know he’ll have a much better run when he recovers,” said McKenzie. “Next we’re looking forward to have two weeks of Ironman training in Kona with Chris McCormack.”

Honolulu Triathlon
Honolulu, Hawaii
May 18, 2008
S 1.5k/B 40k/R 10k

Results

Elite men

1. Luke McKenzie (Aus) 1:47:25
2. Michael Simpson (Aus) 1:49:47
3. Timothy Marr (USA) 1:50:45

Elite women

1. Bree Wee (Kailua-Kona HI) 1:58:38
2. Laura Springer (USA) 2:09:39
3. Mariane Uehara (USA) 2:13:245

Female amateur overall

1. Maggs Morris (30-34) 2:15:08
2. Sandra Ferreira (30-34) 2:17:37
3. Esther Volper (25-29) 2:19:32
4. Janell Petalver (30-34) 2:21:17
5. Amy Thomas (30-34) 2:22:57

Male amateur overall

1. John Flanagan (30-34) 1:54:49
2. Patrick Peacock (35-39) 1:54:52
3. Alexander Eiler (30-34) 1:57:32
4. Tao Blechta (25-29) 1:58:07
5. William Wong (25-29) 1:58:52

Female Masters Overall

1. Lisa Tilton-McCarthy 2:22:44
2. Leilani Tedeski 2:24:57
3. Alison Simmons 2:24:57

Male Masters Overall

1. Eduardo Sa (1:57:06
2. Jaime Cathcart 1:58:07
3. Mike Ferreira 1:58:19