RIYADH, 28 May 2004 — The first Powerhorse Duathlon was a race comprising a 3km run, 15km bike and a final run of 2km. Despite some noticeable absentees, the competition and times were respectable.
The run started fast with Alex Carinan setting the pace. Sean McLean and Neville Koen showed resolve to close the gap and were only 4 seconds back entering transition one. The leading three were closely followed by Dave Hall, Adam Gordon, Colin Vickery, A Creus, Phil Green, K. Malone and Chris Munday.
The short 15km bike section was long enough for Carinan to show his class and was decisive in determining the top 5 finishers. Carinan powered away to build a comfortable cushion of over 3 minutes from McLean. Craig Manning hauled his way back into contention after a poor run and put in the second fastest ride to enter the final transition in 3rd. Paul Tupman, Vickery, Green, Hall, Malone, Koen and Phil Downing all put in good efforts on the bike to set up some close finishes on the final run.
Off the bike, McLean chased hard, running close to a sub eight for the final 2km but could not stop Carinan, who made it a hat trick of wins. Koen chased Vickery down and took third. Manning's bike ride proved enough to hold off the challenge of Malone for 5th while Hall and Green battled right to the end, Hall edging Green for 7th. The top 10 was completed after great runs from Munday and surprise of the day, Tupman, who proved he can run when he wants to.
In B Div, K. Malone keeps winning despite the intensive Ironman training and like Carinan, made it a hat trick of individual wins. A. Creus was a gutsy second and, but for mechanical problems on the bike, would almost certainly have finished in the top 3 overall. N. Desanghere showed good speed on the bike and consistent run splits to take 3rd ahead of F. Gocian and the 5th placed L. Pentlebury back at last from injury. C.Marshall held off S. Koen who ran a great final leg for 7th with T. Moran taking 8th while W. Sadler took 9th and the Lantern Rouge.
In the Junior Div, Gibson's strong running consigned the Oberlaender brothers to second and third. In the team competition, Gasbo/Hynes won after a superb effort on the bike to pip the faster running combo of Hills/Bowtell in 2nd while Gignault/Zaccardelle took 3rd.
