At 21-years-old, Mauricio Mendez has got the triathlon world by the tail. At age of 20, the Mexican's 2016 season included wins at IRONMAN 70.3's in Los Cabos and Cozumel to accompany his four Xterra wins and is the reigning Xterra World Champion.
In Galvaston, Mendez dismounted the bike in fifth and found himself +3:53 down to race leader Tim O'Donnell (USA). The youngster, threw out the notion of "respecting your elders," and smacked out a race best run on the day (1:12:39) to snatch the lead from O'Donnell in the final mile of the run for the victory.
There was much less drama in the women's race in Texas under cloudy skies and brisk winds. In typical Lauren Brandon (USA) fashion, she had close to a two-minute lead out of the water and enjoyed leading the race early on the bike. Great Britain's Kimberley Morrison bridged up to the leader in the open half of the bike and then padded her lead to seven minutes heading into transition.
Throughout the run, the women's field shuffled positions behind leader, as the real race appeared to be a fight for second and third. Morrison laid down a solid run to grab the win by a +2:20 margin over Micaela Herlbauer (AUT) while Brandon finished on the podium.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Mendez Cruz, Mauricio MEX 0:24:41…2:05:50…1:12:39…3:45:35
2 O'Donnell, Tim USA 0:24:36…2:02:06…1:17:15…3:46:19
3 Von Berg, Rodolphe USA 0:24:39…2:05:53…1:16:17…3:49:01
4 Kilshaw, Stephen CAN 0:26:59…2:01:50…1:17:37…3:49:14
5 Russell, Matthew USA 0:26:53…2:01:16…1:18:45…3:49:27
Top 5 Pro Women
1 Morrison, Kimberley GBR 0:28:34…2:10:38…1:33:21…4:15:40
2 Herlbauer, Michaela AUT 0:28:43…2:22:19…1:24:05…4:18:00
3 Brandon, Lauren USA 0:25:31…2:20:36…1:31:25…4:20:28
4 Corbin, Linsey USA 0:31:01…2:20:57…1:26:16…4:21:13
5 Stage-Nielsen, Maja DNK 0:31:37…2:18:40…1:29:02…4:22:18