Denmark’s Ditlev, Great Britain’s Lee win inaugural T100 Triathlon at Homestead Speedway

South Florida sports fans accustomed to seeing cars racing around the Homestead-Miami Speedway might be surprised to learn that some of the world’s top triathletes competed at the venue this weekend.

Great Britain’s India Lee and Denmark’s Magnus Ditlev were the first winners of the inaugural T100 long distance triathlon at the Homestead track on Saturday.

The debut race of the new international eight-event series included a 2-km swim in a man-made lake in the center of the track, an 80-km bike leg on a road course and an 18-km run on the oval.

“It feels amazing,” said Ditlev, who finished in 3:09:08 with splits of 24:28/1:41:45/1:00:55. “It’s a great start to the season. I’m super stoked to take my first T100 win and the first win of the season as well.”

Ditlev had a plan for dealing with the oppressive South Florida heat. The track temperature was 89 degrees.

“When I arrived here in Miami I felt really bad throughout the week training here, so we made a super conservative plan for heat and cooling and so on,” he said. “I was right below the limit. Towards the end of the run I was able to reel in Alistair [Brownlee] and push a bit more. I was super controlled and just below the limit, to deal with the heat.”

American Sam Long finished in second place in 3:09:43 (26:55/1:42:10/58:44)

“The spectators did get me excited every lap and it really did seem unfeasible [to make the podium] until the last ten minutes of the race,” Long said. “Then that belief came and it gave me a huge surge of energy.”

Mathis Margirier of France was third in 3:10:08 (23:44/1:42:30/1:01:59). Youri Keulen of the Netherlands was fourth in 3:10:47 (23:45/1:45:01/1:00:12) and Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain was fifth in 3:11:43.

Lee won the women’s division in 3:27.12 ahead of fellow Brits Lucy Charles-Barclay (3:27.42) and Holly Lawrence (3:30.36).

“I’m speechless,” said the 35-year old. “It feels like I’m watching myself in a different entity. It’s mad.”

Twenty-three countries were represented in the T100 Miami powered by CLASH Endurance race. More than 1,000 amateurs ranging in age from 7 to 73 participated in one the age-group events such as sprint, Miami-distance triathlons and duathlons.

The other stops on the T100 Triathlon World Tour are Singapore on April 13-14, San Francisco on June 8-9, London on July 27-28, Ibiza September 28-29), Lake Las Vegas on October 19-20), Dubai Nov. 16-17. The Grand Finale is the weekend of Nov. 29-30.