Leanda Cave mid season recap - 2010

Leanda Cave – 2010 mid season update
Victories at Escape from Alcatraz and Florida 70.3 highlight impressive first half

July 30, 2010 – At this time of the year, most professional triathletes are turning their focus to preparing for the Ironman World Championship in Kona on October 9th. Leanda Cave is among them and is currently at her Australian training camp in Cairns. The first half of the season has come and gone but not without Leanda continuing to dominate at every race regardless of distance.

Abu Dhabi International – 2nd place
In March, Leanda kicked-off her 2010 season in style by finishing 2nd and the inaugural Abu Dhabi Triathlon. Leanda and her fellow K-Swiss athlete Julie Dibens rode free and clear of the rest of the women on the 200-kilometer bike course and set out on the run together. In the end Leanda fought hard for a well-deserved 2nd place finish.

California 70.3 – 4th place
Just two weeks after Abu Dhabi, Leanda set her sites on California 70.3 where she lead out of the water and spent the majority of the bike leading and pulling away from the other women. Once on to the run she put up a good fight but the cumulative effect of racing Abu Dhabi two weeks prior caught up to her and she held on for a respectable 4th place finish.

Escape From Alcatraz – 1st place
Fully recovered and ready to race - Leanda showed her dominance at the short course distance by once again leading the women out of the water and then powering away on both the bike and the run to capture her 3rd victory in 4 years at the classic Escape From Alcatraz.

Florida 70.3 – 1st place
Leanda returned to Florida 70.3 in hopes of defending her title and making it a three-peat. She did not disappoint! For the 3rd straight year, Leanda won in convincing fashion by setting a new women’s course record that destroyed the old record set the year prior by Leanda.

Tri Grand Prix Kent, UK – 2nd place
After building what appeared to be an insurmountable lead over the next closest woman Joanna Lawn, Leanda suffered a flat tire with only 8 miles to go on the bike. After a lengthy tire change Leanda had lost the lead but was not done fighting. She focused her effort on gaining back the lead from Lawn but she simply ran out of distance.

Tri Grand Prix Zauratz, Spain – 2nd place
Leanda continued to support the newly formed Tri Grand Prix Series by racing just a few days later in Zauratz Spain. Once again Leanda lead all women out of the water and had created a sizeable lead on the bike. Behind her were Cat Morrison and Mirinda Carfrae chasing hard. On the steep climb, Leanda threw her chain not once, not twice but three times, which forced her to dismount and fix each time. Leanda still came in to T2 in the lead but could not hold off the fast-footed Cat Morrison. Leanda managed to outrun Carfrae and held on for 2nd place.

Leanda is now fully focused on the next task at hand – a top finish at the Ironman World Championships.

A heart felt thank you to K-Swiss, Accelerade/Endurox, Pinarello, Easton, Giro, Blue Seventy, Nuun, Tri Sports, Tri Bike Transport, Computrainer, Katalyst Multisport, SKINS and Powercranks.