Montana Athlete Wins Triathlon Title
For the last two-thirds of the 13th annual Coeur d’Alene Triathlon, Ann Seifert thought she was racing for second.
Imagine, then, her surprise when the Helena, Mont., native found out about 10 minutes after finishing Sunday morning that she was the winning female amateur.
Seifert was more than content with second place - especially since she didn’t see presumed winner Melissa Bruigom again after they finished the first leg of the race, the swim.
It turned out that Bruigom, of Victoria, British Columbia, competing at Coeur d’Alene for the first time, is not an amateur but a first-year professional.
Seifert, 39, runner-up last year and a previous three-time winner at CdA, finished in 2 hours, 17 minutes and 30 seconds, nearly 3 minutes behind Bruigom. Bruigom, 25, completed the threephase race - 1.5-kilometer swim, 40-kilometer bike and 10-kilometer run - in 2:14:40. She finished first overall, too, just ahead of male pro Brian Rhodes of New Zealand (1:57:12).
Defending male amateur champion Matt Seeley, 25, started 5 minutes behind Rhodes (20 minutes behind the women), and nearly caught the pro triathlete. Seeley, of Missoula, ran unopposed, finishing in a personal-best and 25-29 age-group record time of 1:57:30. He broke the old mark of 2:01:16. He also easily eclipsed his 1995 winning time of 2:01:04.
A handful of pros competed in the race, although there was no prize purse. It’s the first year since the pro division debuted in 1987 that the pros haven’t competed.
Conditions were ideal for the triathletes, who plunged into a comfortable Lake Coeur d’Alene at 7:16 a.m. The air temperature was 62 degrees when the race began and the thermometer had risen only to the mid-70s by the time the first athletes crossed the finish line.
“I’m happy overall, my time was better than last year (2:21:15),” Seifert said moments before learning she was the female champion. “We (Bruigom) came out of the water together, she was right in front of me.”
But Bruigom wasted no time mounting her bike in the transition area. She built a 30-second lead about one mile into the bike and extended it to nearly 2 minutes halfway up the Mica grade on U.S. Highway 95.
Bruigom widened her advantage near the two-mile mark of the run. Her lead was nearly 3 minutes when she came off Tubbs Hill. By the four-mile mark, Seifert had overtaken another pro, Kristen Whelan of Ontario, Ore., but by that time Bruigom’s lead was insurmountable.
“She was out of sight. I never saw her on the run,” Seifert said.
For most of the top finishers and several of the age-group winners, CdA was a tuneup for the World Championships at Cleveland on Aug. 25.
That group includes Seeley, who is the Northwest’s top-ranked amateur. Sunday, he was never challenged, finishing well ahead of runner-up Lee O’Conner, 25, of Bend, Ore. (2:05:58).
“It was pretty close to a perfect race,” Seeley said. “I felt stronger and stronger all the way through the race. I felt at the end I had one more gear left, if I had to kick it up. I’m going to need that at Cleveland because there I won’t know all my competition. I’ll have to finish strong there to have a chance.”
Complete results were not available Sunday because of computer problems. Race officials hope to release results today.
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