Cameron Dye, Alicia Kaye Each Take Their Second Wins at St. Anthony's Triathlon

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., April 26, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Cameron Dye and Alicia Kaye were the male and female division winners at Sunday's St. Anthony's Triathlon. They both became two-time St. Anthony's Triathlon champions with their first-place finishes at the 32nd annual event.

Dye, 31, of Boulder, CO, finished with a time of 1:47:59, almost 40 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Kaleb Vanort of Mishawaka, IN, who came in at 1:48:36. Eric Lagerstrom, of San Diego finished third at 1:50:03.

Dye led the way out of the water but two pros were close on his trail. "Then I got on the bike and I just tried to hammer it. With all the extra running I've been doing, the bike was a wild card," Dye said. "That has been my thing, but without having spent quite so much time riding, I wasn't sure how that was going to go."

It went just fine as Dye biked in first and then started his run well ahead of the other pros. "It's nice when your race plan comes together," he said. "All the hard work pays off. That's why we train so hard."

Kaye, 32, of Clermont, crossed the finish line at 2:00:30, nearly three minutes ahead of second-place finisher Magali Tisseyre, of San Diego, who clocked in at 2:03:03. Heather Lendway of St. Paul, MN, in her first year as a pro, placed third with a time of 2:07:04.

Kaye said that Lendway set a blistering pace on the swim. "I knew she was such a good swimmer," Kaye said. "I was catching her in the water, but she saw me coming and put her foot on the pedal. I wasn't able to catch her in the water."

That changed when they got on the bikes. "As soon as we got on the bikes, I went by her," Kaye said. "I was focused on my own race and just trying to get as big a cushion as I could before going on this hot run."

Kaye, who won the St. Anthony's women's division in 2013, said this is an especially memorable victory for her. "I consider my win at the 2013 St. Anthony's to be the highlight of my career," she said. "I was truly upset when I didn't win last year, so this is very special."

The professional field included past winners and Olympians who came from around the world and from around the Tampa Bay area. The professional field represented a variety of distances from the sport including Ironman and 70.3 racing, to the non-drafting Olympics distance and the ITU.

Winning the second annual St. Anthony's Sprint Triathlon men's division was Jon Noland, 41, of Tampa, with a time of 1:00:32. Coming in second was Niclas Bez, 22, of Saint Leo, at 1:02:38, followed by 15-year-old Luis Ortiz of Orlando, who finished at 1:03:13.

In the women's Sprint race, Heather Butcher, 43, of North Port, won with a time of 1:10:16. She came in ahead of Celia Dubey, 43, of Tarpon Springs, who had a time of 1:10:42, and Amy Lynn Keener, 38, of St. Petersburg, who finished third at 1:13:51.

The sprint race followed the same course as the Olympic-distance event but with shorter distances – a 750-meter swim, 20K bike and a 5K run.

The St. Anthony's Triathlon race serves as the USA Triathlon Florida Regional Championship to qualify athletes for USAT Championship in Milwaukee on Aug. 8.

For more information about the 2015 races, athletes and fans can also visit St. Anthony's Triathlon's Facebook page: Facebook.com/StAnthonysTriathlon. Registration for the 2016 races will begin Dec. 1, 2015.

About St. Anthony's HospitalSt. Anthony's Hospital is a 393-bed hospital founded in 1931 as a ministry of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany and was the first faith-based hospital in Pinellas County. The hospital continues its rich history dedicated to improving the health of the community by providing high-quality, innovative and compassionate care. For more information on St. Anthony's, call (727) 953-6993.

About BayCare Health System

BayCare is a leading not-for-profit health care system that connects individuals and families to a wide range of services at 13 hospitals and hundreds of other convenient locations throughout the Tampa Bay and central Florida regions. Inpatient and outpatient services include acute care, primary care, imaging, laboratory, behavioral health, home care, and wellness. Our mission is to improve the health of all we serve through community-owned, health care services that set the standard for high-quality, compassionate care.

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SOURCE St. Anthony's Triathlon