Tomo Bracht – the 28 year old professional triathlete from germany added another Ironman title to his collection which includes both the Florida and French events, when he crossed the finish line in Hobie Beach PE yesterday in a time of 4 hours 1 minute and 34 seconds. Although he was only 12th out of the 1.9km swim his cycling strength gave him the fastest time of the day over the 90km distance and put him into the lead, which allowed him a cushion on theise the 2 lap 21km run in 1 hour 21minutes. Raynard Tissink from South Africa was second in in 4:02 minutes and 40 seconds, just failing to catch up on the run.
The ladies race was won by Belgiums Kathleen Smet in 12th position overall in a time of 4 hours 30 minutes and 34 seconds just under 7 minutes ahead of italy’s Edith neiderfriniger. Kwazulu Natal’s Robyn Adendorff was the first suth African home in 8 th position in 4:50:23. Kwa zulu Natal triathletes did well in the event with Terrence Mitchell placing 22nd man, 2nd in the 35=39 category and 7th South African. Pietermaritzburg’s Ken Curr was 2nd in the 50-54 age group in a time of 4:56:54. Over 420 atheltes from 21 countries participated in this first International Half Ironman and it is clear that this is going to become an extreemly popular event for the future.