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Ironman Japan - 23rd May 2004A Podium Finish At Ironman Japan!Ironman Japan, 23rd May 2004 - Bryan Rhodes has stormed back to form after an injury at Ironman New Zealand. He has overcome a punishing day on Fukue Island to claim third spot on the Ironman Japan podium. Rhodsey has now tasted success and is looking dangerous for the competitive year ahead. Dear Sponsors and Friends Well I’m sorry that it has taken me so long to get my latest race report to you all but I have not been able to get a connection from my Laptop so had just the web at the internet cafe in Fukue Island Japan. As many of you may have followed on Ironman Live the race sounded like I was doing a big Yo-Yo act but it was mostly badly relayed info and this is how the race went for me: The Swim was choppy so I was really happy about that and as usual got off to a great start. Stephen Sheldrake took the lead from about 400m and I sat on his feet until about the 1600m mark when the needs on my wetsuit popped open and I filled up with water - I felt like marshmallow man. Luckily I could fix this when we came out for our second lap. I finished the swim in 50.39 just under 1min down on Stephen. I caught up about 200m on the ride and he was going well so I just paced off him and at around 60km into the bike Courtney Ogden came flying by. I thought he was going too hard as it was a super hilly course and with the winds easily able to blow up he charged into the lead. The only problem on the Bike was at 86kms, I slowed to get my special needs bag and was yelling my number but never got my bag which had much need salt tablets and Energy drink so I was super worried but wasn't going to stop as I was in Second place at that time. I then had to conserve and Stephen caught up and we rode together until at the 110km mark Jan Strongermuler and Peter Kropko caught us and as I was really hurting from the missed nutrition I tried to shove everything I could grab down but vomited it up. At 130km on the big climb the others dropped me and I lost 1 min 30 seconds on that climb. I managed to keep really positive and ride as strong as I could and Stephen blew and I caught him with 30k to go and then he had bike problems. I arrived at transition in 4th place 8mins down but only 2mins on Jan and Peter. I felt great once on the run and was telling myself just to keep the run steady as I was super worried about my leg giving in again. I ran well for the first 25km passing Jan and then it was just count the km's down. I was cramping so bad that I had to walk some aid stations with my body doing this off memory as I hadn't ran further than 25k since February. I knew I had a lot of time to the next athlete behind me so that helped. In the last few kms there were huge crowds of Japanese people and I saw Toshi Okurumar and high fived him and his wife - this was a real boost as I have had all my confidence in racing Ironman gone so to place 3rd was awesome!!! I walked a lot of the finish giving all the kids and spectators high 5's. It was a great day and super hard. My major goal of getting a World Ironman Champs slot was accomplished. Thanks very much for all your support with emails etc. It has been a hard last 6 months. Kind Regards - Bryan Rhodes Overall Race Summary Bryan raced competitively the entire day. As usual, he was at the front of the field in the swim finishing just seconds behind fellow New Zealander Stephen Sheldrake. Stephen Sheldrake won the 2004 Ironman Japan swim, in a time of 49:41 in tough conditions at Tomei Beach. Dawn saw cool conditions with the air tempurature at 18.7 C and the water at 19.4 C. Combined with a strong wind that chopped up the bay, it was a difficult 3.8 km for all the but the best swimmers. The end result was a slow swim for the field with Sheldrake leading Bryan by almost a minute at the finish. Following Rhodes was two time Ironman Japan winner, Peter Kropko with age grouper Andre Stuebs of Germany, Jan Strangmuller of the Czech Republic and Courtney Ogden of Australia in sixth. The youngest woman in the field, 20-year-old Manami Suzuki, took the womans swim in 1:02:32, followed by Noriko Yamakura in second, and Australia’s Marissa Robbins in third. The New Zealand based Japanese pro, Yoko Hori held fourth position in 1:05:14.  Second age grouper and fifth place fell to Texan, Shanna ArmstrongFrom the swim it was a fast transition onto the bike and the second part of the race began! Other races may claim to have the toughest bike course but 180km over the volcanic hills of Fukue is a punishing challenge for all. During the bike it was Australian Courtney Ogden who made the first strike, taking second place from Rhodes and then the lead before the half way point. Ogden had overtaken Stephen Sheldrake, who unfortunately had punctured. At one point Ogden held a six minute lead that was finally reduced to 3.5 minutes at the transition to the marathon. In the woman's race it was Australian Marissa Robbins who rode to an early lead, followed closely by New Zealand based Japanese competitor Yoko Hori. Finally, it was onto the run.  While there may have been time for a light hearted ride for Bryan the day before the race, today it was all about taking care of business.With just 11 kilometres remaining in the race Peter Kropko took the lead from Courtney Ogden while the race for third intensified. Finally, Kropko won, Ogden second with Bryan Rhodes joining then on the podium in a well deserved Third place. Yoko Hori of Japan took out the womans title in a intense battle with Marissa Robbins of Australia who placed second followed by Susan Peter, again of Australia. |
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