World Triathlon

Bobby Behan races and reports from the ITU Asian Cup in China

Race Report: ITU Jiayuguan Asian Cup International Triathlon, China
Date: 10-7-2005
Result: 25th

Triathlon in China has definitely improved and I was surprised to see such a huge number of athletes on the start line (Approximately 60). Although, the Chineese Athletes were the dominant force, there were also athletes from New Zealand and Japan. Jan Rehula (Czech Republic) the winner of the last event and Olympic Medalist was also there plus another big name in the sport Dimtriy Gaag (Kazachstan). Dimtri, in many peoples opinions is one of the circuits toughest competitors - a former World Champion and a dominant force in the sport, over the past 10 years.

We, the foreigners were also shocked by the huge turnout of spectators. There were at least 50,000 people lining the course. It was unbelievable. I now know how Lance Armstrong and the Tour De France guys feel on the mountains - on the bike course the people were just pouring out onto the road. It kept me very alert!

The swim start was a bit crazy. We could not undertstand the commentary team or the starter, so when the gun blasted we all took off. About 400 metres into the race (4-5 mins) we were stopped. A false start had been declared, but the marshalls took their time to stop us. Most of the Chineese, granted the starter was talking Chineese, did not go and we were a little annoyed to be honest. So finally 5 mins later the race finally got underway.

I had a bad swim, even with where my swim is right now (Non Wetsuit / 20C). As I said I really need a full winter in the pool. Once onto the bike, I rode very hard from the start. I passed a lot of athletes, but unfortunately none of them could work with me. I eventually hooked up with 3 athletes but I did most of the work. I could see that we were catching the group of Dimtri Gaag and on the last lap they only had 400m. Afterwards, I learned that despite biking mainly alone, I posted the 2nd fastest bike split of the day. Despite posting a good split, I feel that off the back of these races and some good training at home in August I will be in much better form.

Despite working very hard on the bike, I had an reasonable run. I lost no positions and made up some ground, but once again with some more racing I hope to be going quicker. If only my swim had been a little better, I would have been more competitive. Although 25th does not appear to be as good as 11th, I had a much better race here than in Korea. Only 5 minutes separated the top 30 athletes, so it was a closely fought race. Looking at the results I was within the ITU Specified 5% points cutoff of the winners time, which for me is positive considering this is my second triathlon of the season. A Chineese Athlete won the race in a sprint finish with Dimitri Gaag. I hope that my form continues on this upward trend for the next race in China in two weeks time.

1st Chinesse Athlete?? Swim 19’11’’ / Bike 1hr 04’ 35’’ / Run 33’06’’ (1 hour 56’ 53’‘)
2nd Dimitri Gaag (KAZ) Swim 21’04’’ / Bike 1 hr 04’ 25’’ / Run 30’08’’ (1 hour 56’ 54’‘)
3rd Chineese Athlete?? Swim 19’20’’ / Bike 1hr 04’ 10’’ / Run 33’20’’ (1 hour 56’‘)
25th Bobby Behan Swim 22’59’’ / Bike 1hr 04’ 01’’ / Run 35’ 28’’ (2 hour 2’ 30’‘)

There was a mix up with the times after the race and some of the splits were completely inaccurate, so we (some athletes) figured these to be more accurate results. I hope the official results are correct. The results we recieved for example showed that Dimitri Gaag was beaten by 2 minutes, however it was in a sprint finish. Also, a lot of athletes had 3 mins added to their bike splits.

Bobbys Profile:


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Mourne Triathlon - Oversubscribed

Mourne Olympian Triathlon have received a number of individual entries after the maximum was reached.


Any postal orders with these entries will be returned and any cheques will be shredded.

Drew Millar

Hi-Elbow Novice Series Results and Round-up

The results of last weeks triathlon and of the overall series can be downloaded from:

Results 2005

Hi-Elbow have heard many good reports both by e-mail and verbally about the organisation and the marshalling and also the encouragement that the marshals gave to all those who took part. The races achieved their aim of targeting beginners, newcomers and juniors. And the good weather held for all 3 event dates!

We had 66 in total at this last race. 38 Novices (aged 16+) . 22 aged 10-12 and 6 aged 13-15.
Tommy Linton was Race Director for the novice race and Robert Lamont was Race Director for the junior race.
They kept everyone- competitors, marshals and supporters in line.

Here are some figures from the series.
Race 1 Duathlon Total of 29 took part.  Novice-12.,  14 aged 10-12.,  3 aged 13-15
Race 2 Aquathon Total of 56 took part.  Novice-35. ,  17 aged 10-12.,  4 aged 13-15
Race 3 Tryathlon Total of 66 took part.  Novice-38.,  22 aged 10-12.,  6 aged 13-15
Over the 3 races. Total of 151 took part. Novice-85. ,  53 aged 10-12.,  13 aged 13-15

19 competitors completed all 3 events and their medals are now in the post to them.

Quiet a few were not members of a triathlon club.
Most of the ones who were members of Triathlon clubs were either HiElbow or Olympia or Top Cats.

Final Dublin Duathlon 3 Results up

The final results from the Dublin Duathlon Series are also online, the final results include run/bike/run splits

Download Here

http://www.triathlonireland.com/index.php