Considering the difficulty in access to races this year, Great Britain’s Emma Pallant has already managed to build a stellar 2021 racing CV comprising of 1st / 1st / 3rd / 2nd and now 1st on Sunday at Rev3 Williamsburg.
She’s always liked to race frequently, and rarely misses the podium. The two-time Duathlon World Champion is doing her best to make the ‘new normal’ as close as possible to, well, normal.
Her latest victory, the third of the season, came on Sunday at the PTO-supported event in VirginIa USA. It’s not a surprise – as we told you in our preview – but will be another welcome opportunity to have practised race skills while earning another pay cheque.
Comfortable for Pallant-Browne
Third out of the swim, 49 seconds down on the USA’s Ali Brauer, Emma powered to the front on the bike, reaching T2 having reversed that position and built a two-minute lead starting the run, with Mollie Hebda (USA) in third, 4:39 down.
With Lesley Smith the next best ranked athlete starting the half marathon in fourth place and eight minutes back, the run was unlikely to provide much in terms of jeopardy given Pallant-Browne’s run prowess.
While Smith did surge through to take second, a solid 1:26:10 from Emma was still enough to break the tape more than four minutes clear. I suspect she had plenty more in the tank, had it been needed.
Starykowicz blows the race apart on the bike. Again.
With little separating the lead men on the swim, you can be sure that everyone knew what was coming next. Andrew Starykowicz (USA) does not need to be a poker player in terms of tactics; just because you know what he is going to do, doesn’t mean you can do anything about it.
Operation uber-biker was immediately in motion, and 90km later Starky had blasted to a 1:56:11 bike split, and would start the run with a massive buffer of six-and-a-half minutes over Jackson Laundry (CAN).
Andrew is no natural on the run, but you don’t secure as many race victories and podiums as he has if you can’t finish the job. While Laundry cut almost six minutes into his run deficit, it is finish times which are more important than run splits – and Starky will go home with the winner’s cheque.
REV3 Williamburg Results – Sunday 27th June 2021
1.9km / 90km / 21.1km
PRO WOMEN
- Emma Pallant-Browne (GBR) – 4:08:15
- Lesley Smith (USA) – 4:12:41
- Amy Sloan (USA) – 4:16:49
- Ali Brauer (USA) – 4:17:30
- Mollie Hebda (USA) – 4:18:50
PRO MEN
- Andrew Starykowicz (USA) – 3:39:14
- Jackson Laundry (USA) – 3:39:51
- Robbie Deckard (USA) – 3:47:34
- Fernando Toldi (BRA) – 3:49:03
- Adriano Englehardt (SUI) – 3:49:57
Triathlon’s mid-season report card: Tim Don on who’s raising the bar this triathlon race season
