McCormack wins a record-tying fourth Wildflower, McGlone takes her third
05/09/08, Timothy Carlson- Inside Triathlon
Modern Wildflower masters Chris McCormack and Samantha McGlone extended their domination of the legendary toughest half Ironman on the planet Saturday.
Australian Chris McCormack broke a race long duel with Spain’s Eneko Llanos, surging away pell-mell down steep Beach Hill in the last mile of the run to take his record-tying fourth Wildflower long course triathlon Saturday by 19 seconds.
McCormack’s win in 4:00:33 makes him four for four at Wildflower (2001, 2002, 2004, 2008) and ties him with Boulder’s Cameron Widoff (1995, 1997, 1998,1999) for the most overall victories at the place they call The Woodstock of Triathlon.
Llanos and McCormack overcame a 5 to 7 minute advantage enjoyed by defending champion Bjorn Andersson of Sweden (2:16:03) and super biker Chris Lieto (2:15:41) after the hilly 56-mile bike. McCormack’s race-best 1:14:59 run and Llano’s second best 1:15:59 half marathon propelled the two duelists past Lieto at Mile 9 of the run and carried McCormack to the fourth-fastest time overall in Wildflower history.
