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Desaru Triathlon Malaysia - 18th Sep. 2004Rhodes keeps cool to take Desaru Malaysia Crown!Desaru Malaysia, 18th September 2004 - Rhodesy overcame a formidable field and the scorching heat to emerge victorious in the men's open category of the gruelling 9th Desaru International Long Distance Triathlon on Saturday the 18th of September. The race comprised of a 2km swim, 90km cycling and a 21km run. Rhodes clocked 4'07:34 to beat last year's winner Jason Shortis from Australia (4'12:03) by almost five minutes. Another New Zealander Stephen Sheldrake finished third with a time of 4'20:15. Shortis meanwhile, attributed his lost partly due to the heat as he was clearly affected by the prevailing conditions during his run. "But I must give credit to Brian as he was in good form today", he said. In the women's category, Caroline Cooksley from Australia swept to the fore in 4'34:27 ahead of her compatriot Sue Jelly (4'34:21). Japan's Yasuko Miyazaki clocked 4'59:28s to finish third. Click for a race report at the New Straits Times Dear Sponsors and Friends On the 18th of September I raced the Desaru International Half Ironman Triathlon. With the best field ever assembled in Desaru I knew the competition was going to be tough. Along with myself were other New Zealanders Steve Farrell, Stephen Sheldrake, and Brent Sheldrake. From Australian was Jason Shortis (Defending Champion), Matthew Stephens, and Ben Harley, as well as Park Byung-Hoon from Korea. It was going to be a hot pace along with a super hot day. At 10am athletes assembled at the Desaru Golden Beach Resort awaiting the start of the 2 lap swim in the warm South China Sea. There was a Delay as we waited for the Minister of Sports in Malaysia to start the race. I got a good start off the Beach and was swimming alongside Stephen setting a fast pace and only Ben could stay close at 30sec down. We came out of the water in 24 mins. I had a quick transition and wanted to see if I could put a cap on all the other competitors in the 3 lap Bike course. I could see that the field of Men were well spread so I really put the hammer down and tried to build as much of a lead as I could. Coming off the bike I had managed to put over 2mins into Stephen (who had Front wheel problems) but no more distance into Jason who is the strongest runner in the field. So on hearing I only had 2 ½ mins on him I was unsure if it was going to be enough. I ran hard for as long as I could and went past the crowd on the run twice which lifted me greatly. I got a split on the second lap and finding that I had moved out to over 3 mins I was very relived. From then I just focused on getting to the finish as anything can happen in this intense heat. I crossed the line in 4hr 7min 34sec just off last years record. Jason Shortis was second 5mins back then Stephen Sheldrake and Brent Sheldrake, with Matthew Stephen rounding out the top 5. I'm now back in the Gold Coast for my last couple of weeks training before heading back to New Zealand for a couple of day's and then its off to Hawaii for the Ironman World Championships. Thanks again for you continued support and I will check in while on the big Island in Hawaii on my build up to the Big ONE!!! Kind Regards - Bryan Rhodes |
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