After finishing second in his first duel with the Ironman world championship last year, Craig Alexander swam, cycled and bounded his way over 140.6 miles of Hawaii's unforgiving Kona coast to be proclaimed a champion triathlete of superior standing. Alexander, 35, claimed the competition in around the same amount of time he had to endure on a plane to reach Hawaii from his native Australia.
Draped in the Australian flag at the finish, he was still flying high yesterday. Alexander's winning time was recorded at 8 hours 17 minutes and 45 seconds. He should not beat himself up too much over those additional seconds. In sporting parlance, the Ironman is regarded as the one of the toughest sporting trials around, but Alexander had the correct CV for the job, and got the job done. "I can't believe it," he said. "It was a hard race."
Such sentiments could be regarded as a slight understatement when one considers the organisers allow 17 hours for competitors to finish in the face of an ocean swim, gusting winds and lava-coated land. Ironman is popular Down Under, and Alexander's win continues a tradition. Alexander is the third Australian man to win the event after Greg Welch in 1994 and last year's winner Chris McCormack, who dropped out of this year's race with bike problems. Michellie Jones won the women's race in 2006.
dkane@thenational.ae
