Eric Limkemann bested a strong men’s field which included uber biker Andrew Starykowicz and Australia’s Leon Griffin in the inaugural Challenge New Albany. Limkemann used the fourth fastest swim (22:51), the days fastest bike split of 2:07:14 and the sixth fastest run (1:18:43) to win soundly in 3:50:30. Leon Griffin was second in 3:56:16, followed by Andrew Starykowicz who suffered a crash on the bike in third in 3:56:35, Justin Metzler was fourth (4:00:28) and rounding out the top five was Adam Otstot in 4:01:52.
On the women’s side Meredith Kessler used the fastest swim (24:21) and bike (2:24:57) splits to exit T2 with a slight lead over Jennifer Spieldenner. However, Kessler and Spieldenner were shoulder to shoulder as they entered the hot corner in downtown New Albany less than a half mile into the race. Kessler’s third fastest (1:27:32) run was good enough to pull away from Spieldnner for the win in 4:19:02. Spieldenner hung tough for second in 4:23:14 and Julian Petersen (4:24:08), Haley Chura (4:29:58) and Carly Johann (4:33:01) rounded out the top five.
Over 1000 participants competed in the inaugural Challenge New Albany over the weekend with featured events for the entire family. Saturday races included a Challenge Women’s and Junior Challenge races with Sunday featuring the Olympic and Half Distance races.