Fast Finishes

While most of us were still sleeping this morning, Bec and Karl were out racing in the St. Anthony's triathlon. And just after nine a.m., Bec crossed the finish line in second place (!) while minutes later Karl breezed through in 17th. The St. Anthony's race is one of the biggest in the nation, attracting the fastest swimmers, bikers, and runners in North America, so there's no doubt that Bec certainly established herself as a force to be reckoned with after her amazing performance. Meanwhile, Karl's well on her way to an astounding rookie season! Congrats to both. Once again, you've wowed me!

Doing my publicist duties with a couple of clips from the race. There's some good stuff here!

From the St. Petersburg Times:

Seeing double: As Laurel Wassner crossed the finish line in 2:10:59 to place 17th in the women's professional division, a familiar face stood off to the side, awaiting her arrival.
Wassner's identical twin, Rebeccah, crossed the line 10 minutes earlier in second.
it was the first time the two competed in the same race.

"I would always wait for her," said Rebeccah, a professional as well. "I would go back and try to run the last bit with her if I was allowed to."

The two 33-year-old triathletes plan to train together for upcoming events. Rebeccah lives in New York; Laurel lives just across the Hudson River in Hoboken, N.J.

"I don't think anybody else in the race could have felt what we were feeling," Laurel said. "It's pretty unique."

From Inside Triathlon:

After two straight second place finishes at St. Anthony’s, Sarah Haskins finally stole center stage with wire-to-wire win in 1:59:24 finish that gave her a 70-second margin of victory over fellow U.S. pro Rebeccah Wassner and a definitive 2 minutes 28 seconds margin over the third place finisher, Ironman 70.3 World Champion Mirinda Carfrae of Australia....Haskins’ fifth-best 1:01:34 bike held even with Wassner, McGlone and Lavelle, while putting a minute on Carfrae and Dibens. At the final transition, Haskins had a 55 second lead.

...But Wassner’s runner-up finish ahead of certified stars like Carfrae, McGlone, Lavelle and Julie Dibens must have been even sweeter redemption after the 33-year-old New Yorker’s disappointing 10th place finish at Tuscaloosa.

“Rebeccah had a great performance today,” said Haskins. “This was more like her win at the Philadelphia Triathlon last year.”