Triathlon: Bentley leads Canadian sweep

Monday, August 27, 2007 - 07:09 PM

Lisa Bentley, of Caledon, Ont., led a Canadian sweep of the podium positions at the Penticton (B.C.) Ironman race on Sunday.

Bentley finished the gruelling course, a 3.9-km swim, 180.2-km bike and 42.2-km run, in nine hours, 41 minutes and one second. It was her third win at the Canadian event her eleventh career victory.

Sara Gross of Calgary took second in 9:43:34 and Edmonton's Heather Fuhr, rounded out the Canadian sweep in a time of 9:49:36.

Bentley came out of the water seven minutes down on the top woman and worked her way through the frontrunners to finally take the lead on the run.

In the men's event, Kieran Doe of New Zealand was the first across the finish line in 8:32:45.

Jonathon Caroon, from Buckingham, Que., was second in 8:39:59. He moved to Penticton in advance of the race to train on the course.

Third place went to Chris Brown of Calgary in 8:49:34.

Over 2,200 athletes participated in the 25th edition of Subaru Ironman Canada. The top professionals competed for a purse of $75,000. There were also 80 qualifying spots for the 2007 Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii on the line.