Walton Makes Up for Disappointment

The wait was worth it for Craig Walton when it came to the third Los Angeles Triathlon on Sunday.

The 26-year-old Australian was set to compete in last year’s event, but suffered a broken bone in his lower right leg four days before the race when he was hit by a car while on a training ride on his bike.

The injury prevented the 6-foot-2 1/2, 180-pound Walton from being in top racing shape for about six months. But he dominated the professional men’s race in warm and sunny conditions Sunday to post his fifth consecutive victory this season.

Walton, who earned $14,000, clocked 1 hour 48 minutes 12 seconds in the Olympic-distance race that began at Venice Beach with a 1.5-kilometer swim. That was followed by a 40-kilometer bike ride that ended at the intersection of Main and First streets in Los Angeles, and a 10-kilometer run that finished at El Pueblo de Los Angeles near Olvera Street.

Fellow Australian Craig Alexander finished second in 1:50:00 and Simon Lessing of Britain was third in 1:50:30.

Barb Lindquist of Victor, Idaho, won the women’s race for the second time in three years with a 1:59:44 clocking. Nicole DeBoom was second in 2:03:24 and Karen Smyers was third in 2:04:58.

“I was pretty much trying to peak for this race,” Walton said. “I won [the Mrs. T’s race] in Chicago two weeks ago, but I really didn’t feel that good. So I rested a lot in the two weeks leading up to this race and it helped today.”

Rested is a relative word when it comes to elite triathletes. Walton estimates the rode 250 miles, ran 70 miles and swam 15 miles in training in the two weeks before Sunday. But there was no questioning his dominance in his L.A. Triathlon debut.

He had a 54-second lead over second-place Matt Clark after the swim and a 3:45 advantage over Alexander after the bike ride.

“The way Craig has been competing, we all knew he would be tough to beat,” said Lessing, who won five world titles during the 1990s. “He’s definitely at a peak level right now. He’s sort of in a league of his own compared to the rest of us.”

Lindquist’s victory was similar to Walton’s in that she took an early lead in the swim and was never seriously challenged after that.

She led second-place Julie Swail by 1:18 after the swim and extended her advantage to 2:59 over DeBoom after the cycling portion of the race.

“I really concentrated on staying focused on the bike and not daydreaming at all,” the 33-year-old Lindquist said. “That’s something I’ve been working on this year and I feel like I did a good job today.”