Florida calling

Thursday, 15 May 2008 10:02

There is a lot to love about the 70.3 series. It's fast, furious and can elevate those who have perfected the art of the Half Ironman distance. Now we might be a little biased here at the offices of firstoffthebike.com but it is hard to go past arguably the most talented athlete on the planet. The Ironman 70.3 caravan rolls into Florida this weekend and in our humble opinion, it has already been won. Craig Alexander, the man who destroyed the field at St.Croix is set to do it again.

With all due respect to the other pros in the field it is simply Crowie's race to lose. And who could argue after the demolition job he did on his competition last time out. But we don't want to be too biased so, taking a look at the men's field it's clear that the good folks from Florida have assembled a deep field for both the men's and women's races.

The men's race is no doubt headlined by Australia's Craig Alexander. He won't be first out of the water though. Taupo's Bryan Rhodes will have that honour. Rhodes will need to be quick through T1 and away because there is a raft of good pros ready to chase him down. Viktor Zyemtsev, Chris Lieto and TJ Tollakson will be the chase pack. Lieto seems to be the pick here. He has had success at the Ironman distance and can bike the house down. He might be the only one who can take it to the flying Alexander.

The women's event is headlined by Nina Kraft and Katja Schumacher. Schumacher is a former winner here and Kraft is all speed at this distance. Both will be pleased that Mirinda Carfrae is not in Florida as she might give them windburn with another devastating run. But one darkhorse who has shown up is Lisa Bentley. The Canadian has been known to unleash the 'Bentley Blast' during Ironman distances. For those unfamiliar with the blast, it is a super quick run that has won Bentley many races. Let's hope she packed it in her bags for the weekend!

So here are our fearless predictions for 70.3 Florida:

Men

1. Craig Alexander
2. Chris Lieto
3. Viktor Zyemtsev

Women

1. Nina Kraft
2. Lisa Bentley
3. Katja Schumacher

Check in on Monday for the results and to see once again if we were right. To here from an interview we did late last year with Craig Alexander click here.