De Vries (NL) runs away with Victory as Hall (GB) lands 2nd at Challenge Gdansk
In the Polish city of Gdansk it was Sarissa De Vries (NL) who ran away from the field of athletes to take victory at the inaugural LOTTO Challenge Gdask as Lucy Hall (GB) the former Olympian leading the way into the final leg of the run succumbed to the Dutchwomen’s running prowess to land 2nd place.
Challenge Family put its newest PRO race on the calendar over the weekend, June 20, 2021, in the city of Ganask in Poland. This new event has an iconic location next to the Baltic Sea in which there is a 1.9km swim, a lightning-fast 90km bike section and a 21.1km run course that takes athletes along beautiful Gdansk coastline with a breath-taking finish on the beautiful city pier.
It was no surprise to see former ITU athlete and 2012 Olympian Lucy Hall who also featured on ‘The TriNation Podcast‘ take the lead at the start comfortably. Her quick turnover showed everyone viewing a swimming clinic lesson in open water swimming.
In a line-up packed with Pro long-distance athletes, it was Lucy Hall a who led the way throughout the 1.9km swim in Baltic sea-bay of Gdansk. Hall exited the water in 00:23:43 with Dutchwomen Sarissa De Vries in second in 00:25:22, (recent winner of Challenge Riccione) followed by Kolarova (GB) and Lehrieder (GER) some two minutes further back.
Out of TI and onto the 90km bike leg and at the 16km mark, Hall had extended her lead by 3 minutes and keep that lead time at the 30km mark. But De Vires was not giving up and dug deep and by halfway had brought the lead time down 00:02:29 over the last 15K. The German Lehrieder had moved up to 3rd spot but had dropped some 30 seconds to the front leaders. At 60km De Vries was steadily closing the gap on Hall to 00:02:18.
Local hero’s Lenz and Aleksandra were putting on a good show for the home crowd on their home-soil as the two Polish women moved to 4th and 5th place that the 60k mark.
Things were heating up at the at the 75K mark as Dutchwomen De Vries was eating away at Hall’s lead bringing the gap down to 00:01:18. With Germanys Lehrieder some 00:08:42 from the lead this way increasingly looking like a two-horse race. Into the home stretch of the bike De Vries picked the pace up again as the leaders headed into T2 with Hall’s lead reduced to 00:01:09. Both athletes were well ahead of the rest of field by the end of the bike section, however, there was still a long 20.1km run to go.
After only 2km into the run and De Vires had closed the gap Hall to 00:51:00 and was flying and she caught Hall in her sights. Without easing up De Vires pushed up alongside Hall to become the new leader. At 12km it was clear who was dominating the run with De Vires now extended her lead at the 12Km to 00:01:39, although Hall was still running strongly.
Down to the last few kilometres an De Vries was commanding the race with Hall still comfortable in 2nd place. With the welcoming LOTTO balls at the at finish line it was Sarissa De Vries from the Netherlands who took Gold in a time of 04:12:21 with Lucy Hall landing Silver in 04;15:34 (+ 03:13) and Bronze going to Leanna Fanoy (FRA) who made a late challenge in a time of 04:21:30 (+ 09:09)
