Leanda Cave - three-peat at Florida 70.3
May 17, 2010 – Just two weeks after winning Escape from Alcatraz for the third time in 4 years, Leanda Cave showed she is a force to be reckoned with at any distance by winning again at Florida 70.3 yesterday. Cave made up for a sluggish swim by posting the fastest bike and run of the day to win in an overall time of 4:14:22. Cave’s time was a new course record, which broke her own course record from last year by over 60 seconds. Cave has had an impressive early season with a 2nd place at the inaugural Abu Dhabi Triathlon, 4th place at California 70.3, 1st place at Escape from Alcatraz and now another win at Florida 70.3.
In her own words:
Awesome, sweet, fantastic, cool, unbelievable!! Another win at Florida 70.3, making it three for three. I was so happy to see my training pay off as I once again scored a new course record, which I had previously set last year.
It all started on a normal Floridian (hot, sweaty) spring morning with temperatures expected to hit the 90’s and humidity in the 80% range. Kona would come in close to similar conditions.
This year the woman’s field had a few exceptional talents on the start list. Sara McClarty, known as a phenomenal swimmer and a hot contender on the ITU scene was quick to take the lead in the swim. Hot on her heels was Amanda Stevens - top ten finisher at 70.3 World Champs in Clearwater. Then came me. Not a good day for me on the swim. I felt sluggish and thankful to have my Blue Seventy Point Zero to help.
I had a 2minute deficit going into T1 and I had some serious work to do on the bike. So I got right into action I worked hard to create a gap on Nina Craft and Magali Tisseyre, both top 10 finishers in the 2009 70.3 World Champs. I am growing more and more confident in my ability on the bike - I knew I could rely on my sweet Pinarello FT3 with its Easton wheels to get me back up to the lead. I have really dialed in my fit on my Pinarello and its paying huge dividends – special thanks to the crew at Tri Sports for their expert fitting advice. By mile 30 I caught Stevens and by mile 56, I caught McClarty.
The three of us took off on the run together. McClarty soon dropped off the pace and finally withdrew due to injury. So it was just Stevens I had to be worried about. But I soon started putting time into her and found myself floating with fast feet in my K-Swiss K-ruuz. My splits were consistent over the 3-lap run course, but it was getting extremely hot. I started to get cramps in my legs and found these eased up after taking my Accel Gels.
I knew I must be close to the record I set on the course last year, so I just kept giving it my all. I crossed the line almost one minute quicker than 2009 in 4.14.22 (which included a porta potty stop). This time also placed me 16th overall (including the men!). After my 3rd win last weekend in the famous Escape from Alcatraz, I had so much confidence coming into this event. I thought of nothing less than winning this event once again and pushed myself to exhaustion to get the record. It was so worth it!
A heart felt thank you to all of my sponsors – without your continued support and belief in me none of this would be possible. Thanks to K-Swiss, Accelerade/Endurox, Pinarello, Easton, Giro, Blue Seventy, Nuun, Tri Sports, Tri Bike Transport, Katalyst Multisport, SKINS and Powercranks.
Next up for me is a week of recovery here in sunny Florida and then off to Europe to race in the new Tri Grand Prix series in Kent, UK and Zarautz Spain!
