Annabel Luxford and Christian Kemp take on stong fields at Rev3 Quassy 2013

Annabel Luxford and Chris Kemp will be going up against very strong professional fields this weekend at Rev3 Quassy half iron distance race in Connecticut. Racing with Kemp and Luxford are fellow Australian’s Mirinda Carfrae, Carrie Lester, Joe Gambles, Richie Cunningham, Paul Ambrose, Matthew Pellow and Sam Douglas.

Wattie Ink Australian athletes Richie Cunningham and Joe Gambles will be racing along with fellow Wattie Ink athlete Heather Jackson.

Richie Cunningham is the 2012 Rev3 Champion and has been racing incredibly fast this year with wins at the Texas 70.3 and St Croix 70.3. He ran a 1:12+ to win in Texas and also out ran Will Clarke and Clark Ellice in St Croix to win. Cunningham would have to be one of the short priced favourites.

Joe Gambles has been on the podium in 2011 and 2012. After his recent third at Wildflower he will be hungry for a win this weekend.

Ahead of these guys will be a host of very fast long course triathletes. New Zealand’s Bevan Docherty will be hard to beat. He won Ironman New Zealand in hist debut over the distance and also was only just edged out by Christian Kemp for the win at Auckland in January.

With $100,000USD up fro grabs this race has one of the most stacked fields we will see this year. The women’s field in particular is one of the strongest we will see.

EVENT Prize Purse Total: $100,000

1st place = $13,000
2nd place =$9,000
3rd place =$7,500
4th place =$6,000
5th place =$5,000
6th place =$3,500
7th place =$2,000
8th place =$1,500
9th = $1,000
10th = $500

Australia’s Annabel Luxford is excited to be racing Rev 3 Quassy this weekend. “With a stacked field including Meredith Kessler, Heather Wurtelle, Kelly Williamson, Heather Jackson, Mirinda Carfrae, Leanda Cave, Bek Keat I’m looking forward to the opportunity to race some of the best and in form athletes. I think this is the quickest way to learn about long course racing and I’m keen to learn quickly! It will also be good to see where I’m at after my first month of consistent training since the knee operation in February. It’s nice to be out of the rehab phase and into proper training.”

We have seen Annabel perform strongly over this distance twice in the last six months with wins at the Canberra 70.3 and the Asia Pacific 70.3 championship. Annabel will be up against the following smoking field.

Women’s start list:

Emily Cocks
Kelly Williamson
Heather Jackson
Meredith Kessler
Heather Wurtele
Kristi Johnson
Mirinda Carfrae
Laurel Wassner
Malaika Homo
Anne Fallows
Sam Warriner
Jennifer Spieldenner
Annabel Luxford
Charisa Wernick
Robin Sandos
Tara Ross
Jennifer Tetrick
Carrie Lester
Florence Chretien
Amanda Kourtz

Christian Kemp is on the road to Ironman Franfurt and is really excited to be back racing in Connecticut at Rev 3 Quassy. “The field at this years event is as strong as ever and come race day I’m sure a wonderful race will be put on by the athletes. I’m very much looking forward to getting amongst it again and doing my best to figure in the race.”

Training has been going well for Kemp ad with the fair, demanding and honest course he will be looking to feature prominantly even though he is focused on a Frankfurt. “I have been hearing through a few people who live here that is most likely a wetsuit swim with the water in the low 60’s F. The bike is very undulating and you should see some splits on the bike with the likes of Starkowizcs and Yoder driving the pace. Onto the run, again is very challenging and I think you may see more than one athlete use up too much on the bike course and suffer on the run.”

Kemp is currently in the middle of a big block of training for Ironman Frankfurt as that is his goal race currently. “I’m certainly going out there on Sunday to figure prominently in the race but I do have my eyes on the prize in Frankfurt. I was very disappointed not to be able to race Ironman Melbourne this year and as such quite eager to make amends in Frankfurt and hopefully mix it up with some of the best Ironman athletes on the planet.” Kemp has been training recently for Frankfurt in Las Vegas and by all reports it has been coming along nicely.

Men’s Start List:

Andrew Starykowicz
Brandon Marsh
Joe Gambles
Eric Limkemann
Adam Jones
Kyle Leto
Darby Thomas
Richie Cunningham
Matthew Pellow
John Hirsch
Tim Don
Andrew Yoder
Kevin Collington
Devon Palmer
Sam Douglas
Christian Kemp
Nate Buttrick
Pedro Gomez
Dan McIntosh
Chris Baird
Steve Rosinski
David Kahn
Bevan Docherty
Paul Ambrose (Not sure if Paul is racing)
Artem Parienko
Tim Snow
Maik Twelsiek