It was a battle between the two Emmas (photographed here in Australia), but at the finish line it was Emma Moffatt of Australia who came away with the huge $200,000 first place prize in the Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Elite Cup.
In second place and just 1 minute 33 seconds behind it was Emma Snowsill also of Australia who took home $50,000 in prize money during a race that saw both heavy heat and heavy winds.
"Wow, it's amazing, it hasn't sunk in at all yet,” commented Moffatt at the finish.
“It's great to put together two great races in six days and to come away with the win, I'm ecstatic. It was good to make the break and get a lead and I was a bit concerned when Andrea [Hewitt] came with me for the first lap. I was just trying to focus on running and not on the money. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, I haven't given it any thought."
According to Triathlon.org:
"The surprise was Olympic champion Emma Snowsill who failed to make the first group out of the water and was relegated to the larger chase group for the entire 40 kilometre bike segment. The bike course in West Des Moines is flat and technical with multiple hairpin turns, which favored the eight woman lead group enabling them to put small amounts of time in the chasers on every lap. Entering second transition, the lead would be 55 seconds.
In a repeat of last weekend’s performance, Moffatt immediately went on the attack early in the run, dropping everyone except for Hewitt. The Kiwi would not last long however, and by the end of the first lap Hewitt was already beginning to fall back leaving Moffatt to cruise to victory and her largest payday ever. Never taking her foot of the gas for a moment Moffatt still posted the fastest run of the day with a 35:35 10-kilometre split."
Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Elite Cup
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Elite Women - Unofficial Results
Gold – Emma Moffatt (AUS) 1:59:46
Silver – Emma Snowsill (AUS) 2:01:19 +1:33
Bronze – Lauren Groves (CAN) 2:01:31 +1:45
4th – Magali di Marco (SUI) 2:01:48 +2:02
5th – Liz Blatchford (GBR) 2:02:04 +2:18
6th – Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 2:02:26 +2:40
7th – Lisa Norden (SWE) 2:02:37 +2:51
8th – Daniela Ryf (SUI) 2:02:59 +3:13
9th – Sarah Haskins (USA) 2:03:26 +3:40
10th – Helen Jenkins (GBR) 2:03:45 +3:59
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