In a repeat performance of last year, Lisa Bentley of Ontario, Canada again amazed the crowd with her enthusiastic victory in the 2004 Spirit of Racine Triathlon on Sunday, July 25. Bentley's high energy and aggressive running style proved to be the deciding factor in her overall victory in the women's professional field. Bentley missed the world record for the half iron distance by less than ninety seconds with a 4:12:24.

In the men's race, it was the Aussie's day in the sun. Craig Alexander of Australia used the day's fastest run split to claim first place in a tough battle among the strong men's field. Alexander's finish time of 3:45:30 is one of the world's fastest half iron distance finish times. Last year's winner, Luke McKenzie finished a strong second posting the fastest swim time.

Olympian Joanna Zieger was first out of the water and led the women's field by two minutes heading into the run. The chase group responsible for tracking down Zieger consisted of Heather Gollnick of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rebekah Keat of Australia, and Bentley. Bentley eventually ran down Zieger and took the lead for good at mile 10 of the run. Bentley torched the run course with an average of 5:58 per mile. This was Bentley's second win in two attempts in Racince. Bentley received $5,000 for her stellar performance.

Kerry Classen used the fasted bike split (26.1mph) of the day to lead the men's field by a significant margin heading into the run. Alexander, McKenzie, and Cam Widoff used their sub-6 minute run paces to overtake Classen and finish 1-2-3.

Leading the 1,500 person age grouper race were Chuck Dumke of Boone, NC and Becky Youngberg of Eden Prairie, MN.

Men

1. Craig Alexander 3:45:30
2. Luke McKenzie 3:47:56
3. Cam Widoff 3:52:29
4. Kerry Classen 3:53:52
5. Matt Seeley 3:55:02
6. David Thompson 3:59:56
7. Paul Fritzsche 4:01:07
8. Lewis Elliot 4:02:10
9. John Koenig 4:06:05
10. Jared Berg 4:06:38

Women

1. Lisa Bentley 4:12:24
2. Joanna Zeiger 4:15:38
3. Rebekah Keat 4:17:21
4. Heather Gollnick 4:22:45
5. Alexis Waddel 4:25:24
6. Fiona Docherty 4:28:49
7. Lauren Jensen 4:30:27
8. Deanna Frank 4:35:02
9. Bianca Simpson 4:35:57
10. Tara Norton 4:36:32

Registration for the 2005 Spirit of Racine Triathlon is now open at www.SpiritofRacineTri.com. Register by August 1, 2004 and receive a free Spirit of Racine Triathlon training hat.