Looking back at the 2011 Hy-Vee Triathlon

The fifth year of the Hy-Vee Triathlon was a mix of new partnerships, exciting athletic performances and the return to a familiar venue.

Beginning in June the popular kids triathlon series, IronKids, grew in size and created more opportunities for young triathletes in the Midwest with the first race of the Hy-Vee IronKids Midwest Triathlon Series. Over 4,200 athletes, ages 6-15 participated in 14 Hy-Vee IronKids races across the Midwest, plus the IronKids National Championship in West Des Moines.

The adult races on Sep. 4 featured the weekend warriors and world-class athletes with more than $1 million in prize money again. But this year the race returned downtown for the first time since 2007 and served as the U.S. championship for the World Triathlon Corporation’s brand new 5150 series. With 13 events in the U.S. and a handful of international races, the first year of 5150 was the largest international distance triathlon series in the world.

Beginning with Adam Webber and Kimberly Pancoast’s 5150 U.S. Championships and ending with Lisa Norden and Greg Bennett’s Elite Cup victories the Hy-Vee Triathlon had downtown buzzing with excitement. Who will forget Ben Collins racing his way to a one minute lead off the bike and five lap premium bonuses against one of the sport’s strongest fields, before succumbing to a stress fracture in his foot? Or New York nurse Meghan Newcomer, collapsing across the finish line for a tenth place finish in the U.S. championship and Lisa Norden taking down the women’s Elite field one-by-one and holding off Mirinda Carfrae for her first career victory at Hy-Vee. Here’s a chance to revisit some of the scenes from a historic 2011 as you prepare for Labor Day weekend 2012. Registration is open; it’s time to tri again.

Click the left/right arrows below to view all gallery photos.

Fans kicked off a weekend of Triathlon with a Gin Blossoms concert on Friday night, Sep. 2.

Christine Anderson (forefront) of Boulder, CO., and the rest of the women’s 5150 championship field line up for their wave start at Gray’s Lake. Anderson finished in second place.

Sister Madonna Buder, the oldest woman to finish an Ironman race at the age of 79, tries to warm herself up with a cup of Caribou coffee before the sun rises and the race begins at Gray’s Lake.

Daniel Whalen rushes out for the bike leg through Des Moines on his way to a 24th place finish in the 5150 U.S. Championship.

5150 competitor Paul Schafer makes his way to the first transition at Gray’s Lake.

The stack of medals waiting for the 5150 U.S. championship and age group athletes at the finish line in front of Iowa’s state capitol.

Adam Webber of Denver, PA., won the men’s 5150 U.S. Championship with a time of 1 hour 54 minutes and 36 seconds. Webber was the first of more than 2500 athletes to cross the finish line on Sept. 4.

Hy-Vee Triathlon staff and volunteers carry Meghan Newcomer to the nearest medical tent after she collapsed while crossing the finish line. In an email (<a href='http://www.hy-veetriathlon.com/news/newcomer-recovering-after-5150-finish-line-scare.aspx' _fcksavedurl='http://www.hy-veetriathlon.com/news/newcomer-recovering-after-5150-finish-line-scare.aspx'>Read More</a>) a couple of days after the race Newcomer said doctors were still trying to figure why she fell ill but that she hopes to be back for the 2012 Hy-Vee Tri. Despite her struggles at the end of this year’s race her 2 hour 18 minute and 8 second time was good enough for 10th place.

Kimberly Pancoast of Kirkland, WA., enjoys a well-deserved bottle of water after crossing the finish line first in the Women’s 5150 U.S. Championship. Her time of 2 hours and 16 minutes earned her a new Mini Cooper and $5,150 in prizes.

Trying to catch some Z’s on a perfect day for triathlon.

Age group runners finish up their run laps on Locust Street in downtown Des Moines.

Aaron Scheidies (right) and his guide Matt West (left) celebrate Scheidies’ first place finish in the Para-athlete division. Scheidies only has 10 percent of his vision remaining and he must use a cane to get around. He and West swim and run with a cord connecting their waists and they share a tandem bike so Scheidies can maneuver the course. They finished the race in two hours and six minutes.

Adriano Rosa accepts a little help from the triathlon staff after crossing the finish line in 2 hours 18 minutes and 31 seconds, good for a 5th place finish in his age division.

Ben Nelson, 12, crosses the finish line at the Hy-Vee IronKids Triathlon in West Des Moines on Sept. 3. His 44 minute and 33 second race time was good enough for second place in his division, which qualified him for the championship two weeks later back in West Des Moines.

Two girls in the 12-15 year old senior division enter the water during the wave start at the Hy-Vee IronKids Triathlon in West Des Moines.

Antonio Hernandez III, 12-years-old, heads out to the bike course at the 2011 Hy-Vee IronKids National Championship in West Des Moines on Sept. 17. Unseasonably cold temperatures forced race organizers to change the usual swim-bike-run format to a run-bike-run course. More than 1,200 athletes ages 6-15 from 35 states, Mexico and Canada raced for age group championships.

Katherine McCreight, 13, ignores the unseasonably cold temperatures in West Des Moines during one of the run portions of the modified run-bike-run IronKids Championship.

IronKids fans look for a break from the weather at the IronKids National Championship.

Joshua Rinderknecht, 14, enjoys his new hardware after a 5th place finish in his division at the IronKids National Championship in West Des Moines.

IronKids ambassador, Winter Vinecki (right), tries to make a move during the run portion of the IronKids National Championship. Vinecki, 12, (<a href='http://www.hy-veetriathlon.com/community/its-what-she-does.aspx' _fcksavedurl='http://www.hy-veetriathlon.com/community/its-what-she-does.aspx'>Read More</a>) founded Team Winter when she was nine to raise money and awareness for the fight against prostate cancer after she lost her father to the disease. She finished 2nd in the girl’s senior division.

Military personnel prepare the stars and stripes as spectators and triathlon fans get ready for the national anthem before the Elite cup athletes take their place on the starting dock in the Des Moines River.

The swimming leg of the women’s Elite Cup. Race officials had to shorten the swim course for both the men and the women and add another lap due to heavy rain the day before and the morning of Sept. 4. It caused the Des Moines River’s water level to rise and the current to pick up speed, changing the difficulty of the course and the strategy for the athletes.

The horn sounds and the Elite men take off at the Hy-Vee Triathlon.

Triathlon fans fill up the Simon Estes Amphitheater to check out the swimming leg of the men’s Elite Cup. Despite having his back turned to the action one young triathlon fan is still enjoying the race day atmosphere.

Rasmus Henning, dives into the field head first during the swim leg of the men’s Elite Cup, he finished in fifth place.

Left to right: Nicola Spirig, Annabel Luxford, Lisa Norden and Amanda Stevens make their way up the Simon Estes Amphitheater stairs toward the bike transition on the Grand Avenue bridge. It wouldn’t take Norden long to leave this pack in the dust and begin working her way to the front of the field once she got on her bike.

Ben Collins (bib number 8), Stuart Hayes (1) and Csaba Kuttor (far right), chase down former Iowa Hawkeye swimmer Cameron Dye as they finish off 1 of 3 laps during the men’s Elite Cup swim.

Fans check out the men’s elite swim leg from the Grand Avenue bridge. They had an aerial view of the starting dock and the first turn in the Des Moines River. When the athletes made it out of the water and up the stairs of Simon Estes Amphitheater they turned around and had a front row seat for the bike transition.

Igor Sysoev makes his way back toward the capitol on Grand Avenue during the bike leg of the men’s Elite Cup. Sysoev finished 26th.

Laura Bennett, the winner of the 2007 Hy-Vee Elite Cup race and the wife of 2011 men’s winner Greg, grinds out another lap as she passes the grandstands in front of Iowa’s state capitol. She finished in 5th place.

Nikki Butterfield, 4th place in the women’s Elite Cup, tries to keep 2nd place finisher Mirinda Carfrae in her sights. Carfrae, who came out of the water in 20th, worked her way up the field on the bike and charged to second during the run overtaking Butterfield and fellow American, Sarah Haskins. Carfrae’s 1 hour 59 minute and 20 second race fell 8 seconds short of Lisa Norden’s winning time.

Evelyne Blouin finishing up another bike lap during the women’s Elite Cup, with the Wallace building reflecting the capitol in the background.

$Ben Collins of Seattle, WA., catches his breath after crossing the finish line. He fought through a stress fracture in one of his feet to start the race in fourth place out of the water and finished the bike leg close to a full minute ahead of the field, winning all four lap premiums. After he held the lead for one lap of the run, and picked up another premium, the stress fracture was finally too much and he relinquished the lead to eventual winner Greg Bennett. Collins collected $25,750 in race premiums and finished in 18th place.$ $Fans cheer on the elite cup athletes from their grandstand seats in front of the capitol. Ben Collins said in a post-race blog post (<a href='http://bencollins.org/blog/2011/09/hy-vee-race-report' _fcksavedurl='http://bencollins.org/blog/2011/09/hy-vee-race-report'>Read More</a>), “The only other race I’ve seen with so many spectators is the Hamburg ITU race.” He credits the overwhelming crowd support for pushing him to his one minute lead on the bike and carrying him through the first run lap before the pain from his stress fracture was too much to bear.$

Lisa Norden of Sweden celebrates with the tape (<a href='http://www.hy-veetriathlon.com/news/norden-takes-hy-vee-elite-womens-title.aspx' _fcksavedurl='http://www.hy-veetriathlon.com/news/norden-takes-hy-vee-elite-womens-title.aspx'>Read More</a>) after passing Sarah Haskins on the final lap and holding off Mirinda Carfrae to win the 2011 Hy-Vee Triathlon Women’s Elite Cup.

Australian native, Greg Bennett, grabs the tape as he crosses the finish line to win the 2011 Hy-Vee Triathlon 5150 men’s Elite Cup race.

Hy-Vee CEO Ric Jurgens addresses the grandstand crowd in front of the capitol before he hands triathlon’s largest purse over. That is Lisa Norden over his right shoulder checking out all of those hard earned zeros.

The top three elite cup men and women celebrate their historic finishes at the 2011 Hy-Vee Triathlon and the first ever 5150 championship. From left to right: Hunter Kemper, Mirinda Carfrae, Lisa Norden, Gregg Bennett, Stuart Hayes, Sarah Haskins.

News

ARTICLE CATEGORIES

Race Updates

Water Temperature: 73 F / 23 C
255 days and 23 hours ago