Rico Bogen Wins T100 San Francisco

German Rico Bogen was celebrating his first T100 victory in San Francisco earlier today after a hard fought race over the legendary Escape From Alcatraz course. 

It was a clear and sunny morning – with an air temperature of 12.2 C and a water temperature of 13.1 – as the men leapt from the San Francisco Spirit into the chilly waters of the Bay for the 2km swim. Currents pushing towards land, the athletes stayed bunched and after just 16:33 in the water, Mark ’The Shark’ Dubrick hit dry land at the head of virtually the whole field – 19 athletes within 20 seconds.

The long run up to T1 seemed to favour the runners with Morgan Pearson (USA), 2024 T100 World Champion Marten Van Riel (BEL) and Jelle Geens (BEL) at the head of affairs as the hilly 80km bike got underway.

Rico Bogen (GER) – 3rd here last year – soon powered his way to the front, clearly eager to steal a march on the others and do some damage on the first big climb. Soon the German was leading a group including Van Riel, Geens, Kyle Smith (NZL) and Jamie Riddle (RSA) – the latter with a 30-second penalty to serve later on the run for an infraction on the way to T1.

By the end of lap 3, Bogen made his move, pulling 20 seconds clear of the chasers, a lead that he continued to push throughout the course. With 5km to go, Bogen’s lead had only continued to increase – 1:19 to Riddle and 2:23 to the chasing group of Smith, Geens, Van Riel and Noodt – Youri Keulen (NED) having dropped off that group following a 1min drafting penalty.

Bogen made swift work of T2 and looked strong beginning the 18km run. Riddle left T2 2 minutes down with Smith, Geens and Van Riel just shy of 3 minutes back.

While Riddle was holding pace with Bogen, Geens and Smith – running shoulder to shoulder – were gaining. Behind, Van Riel didn’t look himself and had lost 30 seconds in the first 3km.

Geens soon broke away from Smith, clear into 2nd, but not taking huge chunks out of Bogen. Meanwhile, Smith was soon joined by Riddle as the latter left the penalty tent. The South African was distanced half a lap later and in the sights of a storming Mika Noodt (GER) and Van Riel, who continued to battle.

Heading onto the final lap, Bogen was holding strong, Geens – 2:28 behind – only pulling back a few seconds to the German with Smith holding just over 20 seconds to his chasers. The lead would be eroded as Van Riel and Noodt battled for the final podium spot, Riddle rejoining Smith.

With 3km left, Bogen remained in control with 2:12 to Geens, Van Riel and Noodt 4 minutes behind and Riddle and Smith another 15 seconds behind. Noodt made and managed to break Van Riel, who was soon caught by Smith and Riddle – perhaps out of the podium but batting hard for the top-5 placings.

Bogen, grimacing to the line, took the finish tape in 3:15:53 after an imperious performance that showed his all-around swim, bike and run prowess while underlining his place as a real contender for the T100 World Championship title.

Jelle Geens made 2nd place look easy, running in alone 1:54 down on Bogen, while Mika Noodt – all high-fives down the finish chute – took the final podium place, 3:30 behind Bogen. 

Meanwhile Kyle Smith, always a battler, took 4th with Jamie Riddle claiming 5th in his first ever T100 race, showing real class in spite of his penalty.