Daily Times

Britain’s India Lee and Denmark’s Magnus Ditlev were the first winners of the inaugural T100 long distance triathlon on Saturday in Miami, besting a highly competitive field of the world’s top triathletes.

The debut race of the newly launched series, staged on a route at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, included a 2-km swim in a man-made lake, 80-km bike leg on the road course and 18-km run on the racetrack’s oval.

Lee, with a time of 3:27:12, edged reigning Ironman world champion and compatriot Lucy Charles-Barclay, who led the swim and bike but lost rhythm on the final run to finish second. Holly Lawrence rounded out the women’s race podium.

“I knew I had it in me, in my head it was just a matter of time and to be consistent and sensible in the swim and on the bike. Today was the first time I’ve done a run that I am proud of,” the 35-year-old said.

“I had my coach voice inside my head ‘Don’t go out to hard it’s better to be steady and consistent,’ but I was thinking, ‘I’m going steady but I’m also catching Lucy,'” she added.

Ditlev, 26, who won the men’s race earlier in the day, clocked a time of 3:09:08. American Sam Long finished second ahead of Frenchman Mathis Margirier.

“Great start of the season I’m super happy to take my first T100 win,” Ditlev said.

“The entire day I felt like I was below the limit, trying to deal with the heat but towards the end I started pushing more,” he added of going past Briton Alistair Brownlee, who led the run but lost pace and finished fifth behind Dutchman Youri Keulen.

Each winner took home $25,000 from a total race prize fund of $250,000 as the new series boasts more than $7 million in prize funds and contracts.