Taylor Victorious at Vineman 70.3

Pip Taylor celebrated with her 3L bottle Chardonnay trophy Sunday, July 19 after winning the women’s pro race at the Vineman 70.3 Ironman in Sonoma County, CA. With a comfortable lead headed to the finish line, Taylor fought off a painful calf cramp to clinch the victory at her first appearance on the course. Coming off a disappointing 6th place finish at the Life Time Fitness Minneapolis race, Taylor used Vineman to reaffirm her dominance amongst a strong field of competitors. “I had a good result here at Vineman and one I felt I personally needed after last weekend,” she said. “It was a pretty stacked and large field here and although I was excited and looking forward to racing I went in with not too many expectations.” The 1.2 mile swim began at Johnsons Beach, where Taylor and the 2324 participants battled their way for clean water and a quick start. Wearing TYR’s new Tracer Sayonara, she entered T1 amongst the front of the pro women group. She was 6:26 ahead of recent Ironman Coeur d’Alene winner Tyler Stewart. A backdrop of hundreds of vineyards and dozens of wineries set the stage for the bike and run portion of the race. A strong bike split of 2:26:37.8 put Taylor in the lead after passing reigning 70.3 World Champion Joanna Zeiger who led out of the water. Entering the run with a comfortable distance in front of her competitors, Taylor remained reserved on the first half of the 13.1 mile leg. Closing on the finish with half a mile to go, she was struck with a painful calf cramp that brought her stride nearly to a halt. Able to persevere and split a 1:25:16.2, she managed to hold off Stewart for the win, finishing at 4:20:04. Dede Griesbauer of the U.S. was third. With the win, Taylor will now begin her preparation for the Nautica New York City Triathlon scheduled for July 26th, 2009. Visit TYR.com for results of the race, and to follow all of the other TYR-sponsored triathletes. For more information on Taylor, visit Piptaylor.com.