By running down the early leaders in yesterday's JAL Honolulu International Triathlon Union World Cup races, Emma Snowsill and Tim Don now have the rest of the field chasing them in the ITU points race.

Both Snowsill of Australia and Don of Great Britain trailed the leaders after the swim and bike portions of the men's and women's races in Waikiki, but blazed ahead during the run to win the first World Cup event of the 14-race season.

Snowsill caught and passed Loretta Harrop -- who had led throughout the swim and bike -- early in the run to lead an Australian sweep of the top three spots in the women's race.

Harrop made the transition from the bike to the run 37 seconds ahead of a group of 5 competitors chasing her. Snowsill, trailing by 35secs sprinted after her and pulled into the lead at the corner of Kalakaua and Monsarrat avenues.

Snowsill steadily pulled away and crossed the finish line nearly 2 minutes ahead of Harrop, who hung on for 2nd at 2:06:36. Annabel Luxford finished 2secs later to place 3rd.

Snowsill, the 2003 ITU women's world champion, sat out the early part of last year recovering from an injury and didn't have a chance to defend her title. But she came back to win three events in Australia earlier this year, and posted another victory yesterday morning thanks to a blistering run.

"Loretta had a good lead out of the bike and I just really had to put the hammer down and go as hard as I could," Snowsill said.

Defending champion Lindquist & Williams were the top U.S. finishers, coming in 6th and 7th. Olympic gold medalist Kate Allen of Austria finished 18th.

Tim Don had to work a bit harder in the men's race as he held off American Hunter Kemper by 1sec to win his first World Cup event since 2003, finishing with a time of 1:54:23.

"It takes you to another level when you're at the front of the race and the crowd is going wild, people out here cheering like crazy," Don said.

After sneaking up on the leaders during the run, it was Don who was looking over his shoulder as he approached the finish line in the dramatic conclusion to the men's race.

"When we got on the bike the lead was about 2mins and I thought it was possible to catch the leaders," Don said. "If we started the first 5ks strong, which we did, I thought we could catch them. Toward the end I got a bit of a gap and I was able to put my head down and head for home."