Rolf Prima athlete, Jesse Thomas wins 2012 Wildflower
Boom! With the third fastest time ever, Jesse Thomas defended his title at the 2012 Wildflower Long course and brought home the win. After stunning the field last year, Jesse showed it was no fluke. The course, known for its challenging hills and wind, was a battleground for Jesse as well as Rolf Prima athletes, Emily Cocks and Trevor Wurtele who was fresh off his victory at IM 70.3 New Orleans.
Exiting the water with a small chase group, Jesse was 7th going into T1. Trevor exited a little over a minute behind, and made a quick transition to the bike. Both Jesse and Trevor pounded their Rolf Prima TdF60’s hard and found themselves among the leaders. Coming into T2, Jesse was holding onto 4th while Trevor had worked his way up to 7th. Jesse ran close with Paul Matthews, Jordan Rapp and Clayton Fettell in the beginning, but by mile six he had taken the lead and never looked back. “When I passed into the lead, it was kind of dramatic,” Jesse said, “but I knew I had so long to go. I was never 100% confident I was going to win until I came into the finish chute." Reflecting on his near record time after the race, Jesse said “Like I said, 5 MINUTES faster on those TDF 60’s! “. Continuing his strong of strong races, Trevor took an overall 7th for the day.
In the women’s field, Emily started with a lightning fast swim and exited 2nd, just seconds behind the leader, Leanda Cave. After a hilly and windy bike, Emily made up some lost time and ran herself up to take 11th.
Read Jesse Thomas’ race recap