Courtesy: USAT

U.S. elite triathletes Laura Reback and Mark Fretta were the top U.S. finishers at Sunday's New York ITU World Cup, which was turned into a duathlon.

The World Cup was part of the Ford New York City Triathlon, which was reformatted after heavy rainfall in the Manhattan area created unacceptably high levels of e-coli in the Hudson River, where the swim was to take place. Age group athletes also did the modified race.

The World Cup was also part of USA Triathlon's Race to Athens elite race series. Races in the series offer ITU ranking points good toward Olympic qualifying. However, despite earlier reports to the contrary, ITU President Les MacDonald reported Sunday that no ITU points would be awarded for the New York race due to its modified format. The prize purse of $80,000 was still awarded.

The event consisted of a 10k run, 40k cycle and 5k run staged completely within Central Park.

Simon Whitfield of Canada came away with the men's victory in 1 hour, 46 minutes, 47 seconds. Tim Don of Great Britain, the 2002 elite duathlon world champion, was second in 1:46:54 and Bevan Docherty of New Zealand was third in 1:46:59.

Fretta (Portland, Ore.) was seventh in 1:47:26. Andy Potts (Princeton, N.J.) placed 13th. Other U.S. athletes in the men's top 20 were Marcel Vifian (Santa Rosa, Calif.) in 15th, Christoph O'Donnell (Cambridge, Mass.) in 16th and Andy Kelsey (Cupertino, Calif.) in 17th.

Rina Hill of Australia edged out teammate Pip Taylor for the women's victory in 2:00:48. Taylor finished in 2:00:52 and Michelle Dillon (Great Britain) was third in 2:01:05.

Reback (North Palm Beach, Fla.) finished fifth in 2:01:14. Her U.S. teammate Jessi Stensland (San Diego, Calif.) placed eighth and world No. 1 Barb Lindquist (Victor, Idaho) finished ninth.

Other U.S. women in the top 20 were Susan Williams (Denver, Colo.) and Kelly Rea Cook (Marietta, Ga.).

Complete results and more details are available at www.triathlon.org.

The World Cup series takes a couple of weeks off now before starting up again in Hamburg, Germany on Sept. 6.

New York ITU World Cup
Aug. 10, 2003; New York, N.Y.
10K run, 40K bike, 5K run

Women
1. Rina Hill (Australia) 2:00:48; 2. Pip Taylor (Australia) 2:00:52; 3. Michelle Dillon (Great Britain) 2:01:05; 4. Mirinda Carfrae (Australia) 2:01:08; 5. Laura Reback (North Palm Beach, Fla.) 2:01:14; 6. Liz Blatchford (Austalia) 2:01:22; 7. Jodie Swallow (Great Britain) 2:01:25; 8. Jessi Stensland (San Diego, Calif.) 2:01:45; 9. Barb Lindquist (Victor, Idaho) 2:01:49; 10. Samantha McGlone (Canada) 2:02:02

Other U.S. Finishers
12. Susan Williams (Denver, Colo.); 18. Kelly Rea Cook (Marietta, Ga.) 2:07:56

Men
1. Simon Whitfield (Canada) 1:46:47; 2. Tim Don (Great Britain) 1:46:54; 3. Bevan Docherty (New Zealand) 1:46:59; 4. Chris Hill (Australia) 1:47:09; 5. Eneko Llanos (Spain) 1:47:16; 6. Sylvain Dodet 1:47:19; 7. Mark Fretta (Portland, Ore.) 1:47:26; 8. Ivan Rana (Spain) 1:47:32; 9. Hektor Llanos (Spain) 1:47:34; 10. Tamas Laptak (Hungary) 1:47:37

Other U.S. Finishers
13. Andy Potts (Princeton, N.J.); 15. Marcel Vifian (Santa Rosa, Calif.); 16. Christoph O'Donnell (Cambridge, Mass.); 17. Andy Kelsey (Cupertino, Calif.); 28. Joe Umphenour (Bellevue, Wash.); 31. Michael Smedley (Colorado Springs, Calif.); 32. Brian Fleischmann (Jacksonville, Fla.)