Courtesy: USAT

U.S. Age Group Duathletes earned one silver medal and six bronze at the ITU Duathlon World Championships on Sunday in Affoltern, Switzerland.

A team of approximately 200 U.S. age groupers traveled to Switzerland to compete in the race, which consisted of a 10k run, 42k bike and 5k run. Rain throughout the night and into the morning, along with temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, challenged the age group duathletes.

Pat Fossum (Montgomery, Ala.), the defending world champion in the women's 65-69 age group, took the silver medal for the United States this year, finishing in 4 hours, 9 minutes and 52 seconds. Pelz Gabriele of Germany won the age group in 3:49:11.

Anne Ellacott (Marietta, Ga.), who won gold in the women's 45-49 age group in 2002, won a bronze in that age group this year, finishing in 2:46:29. Christiane Hofmann of Switzerland won gold in the age group in 2:41:09.

The other five bronze medals were won by Sean Ion (Shippenville, Pa.) in the men's 20-24 age group, Jonathan Hastings (Columbus, Ohio) in the men's 25-29 age group, Beth Burchill (Rochester, N.Y.) in the women's 35-39 age group, Kristin Miller (West Lakeland, Minn.) in the women's 40-44 age group and Sylvia Angel (Bellevue, Wash.) in the women's 60-64 age group.

Hastings, with his time of 2:06:05, was the sixth-place men's finisher overall. Jason Spong of South Africa won the overall men's age group title in 2:05:20. Ion finished 17th overall.

Gabriele Hauck (Savannah, Ga.), who finished fourth in the women's 30-34 age group in a time of 2:32:49, finished ninth overall among the women. Burchill was 18th overall in 2:36:22. Rahel Jones of Great Britain won the overall women's title in 2:28:03.

In the elite races on Saturday, former duathlon world champions Benny Vansteelant of Belgium (2000-01) and Edwige Pitel of France (2000) returned to the top of the podium.

Vansteelant completed the 10km (four-lap) run, 40km (five-lap) bike and 5km run in 1:54:30. Jonathan Hall of Australia was second and Alessandri Alessandro of Italy was third.

Derek Kite (Malibu, Calif.) was the top U.S. men's finisher in 21st. Eric Schwartz (Boulder, Colo.) finished 23rd and Greg Watson (Newark, Del.) was 28th. In the elite men's team competition, the U.S. men (Kite, Schwartz, and Watson) placed fifth out of 11 countries. France won the team competition.

Pitel won the women's elite race in 2:13:20. Andrey Cleau of France was second and Vicki Pincombe of Great Britain was third.

Dolly Ginter (Irvine, Calif.) was the top placing U.S. elite woman in 15th. Heather Haviland (Waukesha, Wis.) was 17th and Amory Rowe (Encinitas, Calif.) was 20th. The U.S. (Ginter, Haviland, Rowe, Cecily Tynan, and Gabriel Hnilkova-Jenks) finished fourth out of five teams the elite team competition, which was won by France.

Taylor Tolleson (Pacific Grove, Calif.) was the top U.S. junior men's finisher in 12th. The U.S. junior men's team of Tolleson, Manuel Huerta (Miami, Fla.), Matthew Coy (Lawrenceville, Ga.) and Jimmy Kirsch (Winter Springs, Fla.) placed fourth in the team competition, which was won by Great Britain.

Marissa Ryan (Farmington, Conn.) placed 18th among the junior women. The U.S. junior women's team of Ryan, Julia Bisschops (Johns Island, S.C.) and Marie Anne Baker (Royal Oak, Mich.) placed third behind Switzerland and South Africa.

Complete results and details are posted at www.triathlon.org