They racing in the dark? ;-P

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

im hoping rhodsey catches lieto.

Big Jase is in the lead - go Aussie. Not the greatest swimmer, but the boy can run.

And Jason Shortis wins!

Swim 54:02 Bike 4:42:08 Run 2:56:27

8:36:33

1 JASON SHORTIS 8:36:33 2 CHRIS LIETO 8:50:51 3 BRYAN RHODES 8:52:59

Looked like a good race in brutal conditions. I love following the live updates and rooting for people I don't know! IMNZ next week!

-C

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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.

go Paul Fernandez! aka ST'er "Paul"

How many entries this year?

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

Get off the bike 21min behind Lieto, and wins by 16'...wow...I guess a runner ;-)

Congratulations to slowtwitcher kc_sbr for finishing IM Malaysia. :)

There were about 277 starters this morning, of which all-but-three finished the swim.

Of the 274 who started the bike ride, 266 of them finished that part of the day.

We're now 40 minutes away from the 17-hour cut off point, and we have 219 finishers so far.

Considering the conditions the athletes faced, it all means that more than 80% of the field is likely to have made it through the challenge they started today ... which is a pretty good number considering how difficult this race has proven to be!

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

Cheers, Chip. That's a better number of entries than I expected given the history from the last couple of years. And a better percentage of finisher than usual.

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

Thanks Kevin..

Heres the low down of the race summarized in one word - HOT..!

The swim was held in a bay (sorta) and the waters were pretty calm except for a slight sideways current that was more pronounced towards the end of the swim. There were lots of sea lice and some jellyfish. I never saw the jellyfish but i did feel some of them sting me as they brushed me across my lip and one on the web of my fingers. The swim start was a water start where the pros were given about a 10 meter head start and everyone (pros & amatures included) started to the same cannon/gun shot. The swim was a 2 loop affair that parallel the beach. Race start was at 7:30 am as it was still pitch black at 7 am. Race finish time was extended to 12:30 am.

T1 was the shortest i had ever seen (even for an Olympic distance race). From the time i got out of the water to the time i crossed the mount line, i had run no more than 125 yards. This was possible due to the number of athletes causing a short line for the T1 bags.

The bike course was an out & back route of 3 loops. Each loop was 60 km with a very slight incline from 0-30 km mark and a very slight decline overall from 30-60 km mark. It was a flat to mile rolling hill course. Aid stations were placed at every 10 km intervals and they handed out 500 ml bottles of water and Enervit. The first loop was ok with temps hovering in the 92 deg F range at around 10 am. The next loop, Mother Nature upped the difficulty and gave us a headwind as we made our way back into town. At this time (around 12 noon) the temps were up into the 95-98 deg F range. By the time i got to the third loop, it was just plain ridiculous, on my way back into town my computer read 104 deg F. I was just dousing myself with the water from the aid stations to keep the body cool.

T2 was pretty short also. I don't fully remember everything but i think that they even grabbed my bag and brought it to me when i got into the change tent. First thing i did as they handed me a bottle of water was to pour it over myself as i sat in the chair before even attempting to remove my bike shoes.

The run was just a continuation of the heat. It was a 4 loop out & back spectator friendly course. Aid stations were placed every 1 km apart. I trotted along and i walked some. I suffered lack of energy on the run as i did not consume enough on the bike. The heat had caused me to not want to eat enough while on the bike. It wasn't till sundown at about 7:30 pm before it was cool enough to enjoy the weather. Temps at sundown dropped to a comfortable 90 deg F or so.

I finished in an ashaming 13:57:59. I had many doubts on the run and the thought of DNF did cross my mind, but i managed to pull thru knowing that i could still finish the entire race even if i had walked.

Overall, it was an experience i'd never forget and now i know why the race organizer of this event calls it the "Toughest Show on Earth". A week later, after all is said and done, i think that i am leaning towards doing this race again as i would like to redeem myself from that piss-poor race performance.



Paul

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Paul..

Way to gut it out Paul. A DNF in an Ironman is the absolute worst and a slow performance is 100 times better than any DNF ever. You will be back stronger and you will know exactly what its gonna be like next time through...whether it be Malaysia or somewhere else.

Its a tough race for you to prepare for with the time of year in Illinois. I can't imagine you getting that many outdoor long rides from the time we left PCB to when you left for Malaysia. Thanks for the report; keep in touch..

KJG

Kevin,

0 outdoor rides since returning from PCB. Everything was done on a fluid trainer. It sucked...!

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Paul..

"Overall, it was an experience i'd never forget and now i know why the race organizer of this event calls it the "Toughest Show on Earth". A week later, after all is said and done, i think that i am leaning towards doing this race again as i would like to redeem myself from that piss-poor race performance. "

You are being way to hard on yourself. Whenever I have a poor race, I stop to compare myself not with my studly triathlete friends, but the other 40 something dads living in my neighbourhood. If you do that, you'll quickly note how studly the sub 14 at Ironman Malaysia really is.

Congrats.

Dev