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MADEIRA BEACH - Marc Bonnet-Eymard of Winter Garden won Sunday's Madeira Beach Triathlon in 1 hour, 6 minutes, 53 seconds.
Bonnet-Eymard, 32, who also won the Escape From Fort DeSoto Triathlon on April 17, now leads the 2004 Tampa Bay Triathlon Series. His win streak also includes an age division (30-34) win at St. Anthony's Triathlon.
The 850 triathletes swam a half-mile, biked 15 miles and ran 3.1 miles.
"I'm ready for Florida Half Ironman at Disney next weekend," Bonnet-Eymard said. "I was first out of the water, and I didn't want to push it too much on the bike and run. I'm saving something for next week." Bonnet-Eymard stayed out until 2 Sunday morning for the wedding of former winners Marty Gaal and Brianne Harrington. The two prerace favorites skipped Sunday's race, departing immediately for a mountain biking honeymoon in Colorado.
Christina Noordstar, 27, of Tampa was the top woman in 1:21:59 after finishing second to Harrington last year. "It was just like last year," Noordstar said. "I could see a girl up ahead at the bike turnaround on Walsingham. I think she had four minutes on me. I knew I had to be patient. I passed her just before the little bridge going onto the sand on the run. I looked for some level places to run in the sand, and I never looked back."
Noordstar's focus for the spring also is Saturday's Florida Half Ironman. Hoping to qualify for the Ironman Triathlon world championships this fall, Bonnet-Eymard and Noordstar are among about 2,400 who will race.
"Women from all over the world are coming," Noordstar said. "I just looked at the Web site, and they are coming in from everywhere, from Caracas to Canada. I'll be happy with top five."
- For results: www.altavistasports.com