The Bahrain Victorious 13 team came out in force at the PTO Canadian Open last weekend, with prize purse-winning performances despite some challenges.
Six weeks after his triumphant Pho3nix Sub7 full distance race, Kristian Blummenfelt took silver over the middle distance against his Norwegian compatriot Gustav Iden. He said, “I was cramping up so I was happy to be able to come back again in the race and fight for the win at least in the end, and be back on the podium.” Blummenfelt takes $70,000 in winnings and retains his #1 position in the PTO world ranking.
Alistair Brownlee was third out of the water and led the race throughout the bike leg and onto the run. Despite a lack of run mileage recuperating from a hip stress response that kept him off the Sub7 starting line, the Brit ran to a 24th place finish battling through stomach issues.
Henri Schoeman crossed the line in 35th after leading out of the swim. The South African has knocked off the rust in time for the Commonwealth Games next week in Glasgow. Both Brownlee and Schoeman are guaranteed a take-home of $2,000.
In the women’s race, Holly Lawrence ran herself into sixth place and a $30,000 payday on her first race back since taking third place at Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga in May. She said, “I wasn’t sure where the fitness would be. I had a terrible swim and bike, but solid run to regain some places. Turns out if the prize money runs deep you’ll still stay in it and fight for those positions even outside the podium to win that dough.”
