Rookie triathlete Leah Prudhomme of Andover, rocked at Lakes Country last weekend, finishing 2nd, just four seconds behind winner Christel Kippenhan. Her bike split was particularly noteworthy: 44:09 - 23.5 mph (17.3 mile course)."I started in Wave 5 and on the Bike portion which ran on hwy 210 (kinda crazy) I passed all of Wave 5, 4,3, 2, and some of 1 and saw this one lady (Christel) with 6 on her calf (wave 6)... Christel threw me for a loop... I thought I was suddenly lost on bike course...and that wave 6 on her calf had me second guessing myself... I passed her and forgot about it...went into the Run strong and held the lead .. and last mile had to fight for it with Sawra (Rochester, MN) who sprinted up behind me and took lead for .5 mile. We battled it out and I pulled an all out turbo boost dash to the finish line to pull ahead to cross first... She was strong, though. I passed her on the bike so she had to have been a fast runner. I won by seconds..
"About a minute or so later Christel crossed, but she in fact was FIRST. She and I talked about how when I passed her on the bike she had that 3min. margin from wave 6. ..She was a powerful competitive swimmer and that paid off. It was great to run across First female... and find out I won 2nd Overall and my Age Group...
