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Ironman New Zealand, Taupo - 5th March 20053rd At Ironman New Zealand, Taupo.Two Podium Finishes In Two Races At The Start Of The Season, 5th March 2005 The gun sounded at 7:00am to send the 1175 swimmers on their way, in great water conditions. The kiwi lifeguard Brent Foster opened a gap and forged his way from the field in customary fashion. The next five men came out of the swim in a tight bunch which included Tayama and Nishiuchi of Japan with Sheldrake, Doe and Bryan Rhodes of New Zealand. One of the most spectacular swims on the Ironman global circuit, the 3.8kms in New Zealand's Lake Taupo is both awesome, and 'cool' at a fresh 20C on race day. It was the young 'hotshot' Kieran Doe who led the race from the bike. This former short course elite with the crazy dreads has taken on a task this year to make the podium. However, in the early kilometres it was the Swede Bjorn Andersson who streaked ahead, only to have a Kiwi trio, in Brown, Doe and Sheldrake attach themselves to his rear wheel. Bjorn was doing well, until 169kms into the 180km ride he suddenly slowed, and began to stretch his back, leaving the Kiwi 'express' to blast through and take on each other for the bike honours. The final few kms saw Kieran Doe slip back ahead as he also posted the quickest ride at 4:40:34. Bryan Rhodes, while not in the top three at this stage, was tactically 'lurking' within striking distance, happy to steadily pace himself for the most important placing; which is of course, at the end of the marathon. Ironman New Zealand's 42km marathon takes competitors lakeside on the shores of Lake Taupo away from the town and back over a basically flat two lap loop. Cameron Brown pushed out hard on the marathon stretching ahead of the hard fighting Kieran Doe and fellow kiwi Stephen Sheldrake. Between the 10 and 15kms mark the top ten changed again with Gordo Byrne and Bryan Rhodes looking strong. By the 28km mark Aussie John van Wisse moved into second place behind Cameron. Cameron takes the top spot in the race with a dominant run but close to the finish there is a merciless race for the podium between Gordo Byrne, Gael Mainard and Bryan Rhodes. Finally Gordo Byrne took second place and surging to third was the hometown racer Bryan Rhodes. Following was Gael Mainard of France and kiwi's Chris Mcdonald and Kieran Doe. Jo Lawn hammers the woman's field to win and make this a very successful day for kiwi athletes. |
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