James and Jodie went up the hill... faster than anyone else

The weekend has started extra early! Some exciting mid week racing at the classic Alpe d’Huez Long Course triathlon in France has yielded some fantastic results from blueseventy athletes Jodie Swallow (just four days after her 7^th place at the London WCS) and teamTBB athlete James Cunnama.

Alpe d’Huez is not for the faint hearted and features some of the toughest climbs in the world. The long course race distance includes a 2.2km, swim, 115km bike and 22km run.

The race has become something of an annual rite of passage for many of the athletes in the teamTBB Leysin based training camp who make the 280km journey to the start on their bikes and then ride the 280km back to camp, all in the name of good solid training!


In the men’s race South African, James Cunnama (3rd in 2009) tore the men’s field apart crossing the line to take his maiden victory with a time of 5:36:33. He made his move on the famous the descent of Col d'Ornon, and then created a huge gap on the ascent of Alpe d'Huez, finishing over eight minutes clear of second place Frenchman Xavier Le Floch. Having one of the best races of his life, American, Scott De Filippis (USA) came in 3rd in a time of 5:51:13.

The ladies race saw Jodie Swallow (GBR), Rebekah Keat (AUS), Lisbeth Kristensen (DEN) and Tamsin Lewis (GBR) all have a smoking hot day. Jodie smashed the field to take the win in a time of 6.20.01, with Keat crossing the line in 2nd in 6:48:56.  Fellow teamTBB teammates Kristensen came 4th in 6:59:08 and Lewis 5th in 7:04:08.

It was a great day for teamTBB with five teamTBB athletes starting the long course race and all five athletes placed in the top five.