Last Friday promised a hard fight for all the triathletes who wanted to take home the pride of completing the prestigious Olympic Distance Triathlon Race by finishing the 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10 km run. Secretly six of them were looking to the win, all of whom have been strong contenders during the season.

With there being a short break between the swim and the bike sections the competition to be fastest in the water was a fierce one. One particular battle involved a change of the positions in the pool almost 10 times between four swimmers included Gerd Muetze, Antonio Castellanos and Taylor.

With the exact standings from the pool not being known (Raul Pacacios finished fastest in 23:08 minutes), there was tension at the start line of the cycling section at the Maze, t scene of a lot of tough races this season. The bike section started en masse led out by the strong legs of Martin Ball, Kristoffer Ahlin, Muetze as well as Castellanos. The main competitors never let each other get out of sight with positions changing back and forth on the course. However, only Ball managed not to be overtaken by the leader from the swimming, Raul Pacacios, who put in an excellent bike section. Ball covered the 40km course in 1:03:56, turning a 6 second deficit in the swimming into a three-minute lead. Soon after them came Ahlin, Muetze and Castellanos who reached the transition only seconds apart from each other.

As a triathlon is a combination of 3 sports the race is not over before all competitors finished the run. The last discipline with the hot weather as well as the nutrition of the athletes can have a big impact on the outcome of the race. This made for tough 10km run, which was split in four 2.5km laps. Raul paid the price for his brave bike ride and faltered in the sun. Castellanos took his chance and started to overtake people. Ahlin was picked off on the first lap by Castellanos and Muetze on the second lap. The battle for a podium finish was wide open. Raul was still in second place but by the end of the second lap was passed by Castellanos and Muetze. Castellanos also managed to catch Ball about one kilometer before the finish line to finish fastest in the 10km run with a time of the 42:15. However, it was Ball, managing his race perfectly and capitalizing on his excellent swim , who took the top spot and won the race with a total time of 2:16:08 hours. Castellanos came runner up in 2:19:07 and Muetze with 2:21:16 in 3rd place.

The woman’s race was won by Jana Jaruskova, who led the bike and run from start to end, showing her ironman skills finishing in 2:54:10 hours followed by Katerina Holeckova in 3:01:25, and Kate Scott, after a strong swim of 24:04 minutes, managed to complete the full race in 3:06:53 hours.

Two Junior Triathletes proudly finished the Olympic Distance as well, Cameron Ball with an overall time of 2:32:40 hours finishing in an impressive 7th place overall and Harry Benett with a 3:21:45 hours.

Riyadh Triathletes want to thank their sponsors Power Horse, Carrefour Le Mall @ Exit 5, 2XU, Wolifs Bike Shop, Saab and Riyadh Palace Hotel for their support in the 2013 season. Special thanks to Carrefour Le Mall which sponsored the BBQ for the athletes after the race.

Results:

1. M.Ball 2:16:08, 2. A.Castellanos 2:19:07, 3. G.Muetze 2:21:16, 4. R. Pacacios 2:23:10, 5. K.Ahlin 2:26:55, 6.S.Gillespie 2:32:40, 7. C.Ball 2:32:40, 8.W.Grimminger 2:34:48, 9. S.Girardeau 2:39:54, 10. R.Gocian 2:40:02, 11. P.McParland 2:42:04, 12. E.Lando 2:44:27, 13.S.Elliot 2:45:33, 14. Chris+Paul 2:50:34, 15. G. Johnson 2:50:36, 16. J.Jaruskova 2:54:10, 17. A.Benett 2:56:14, 18. K.Holeckova 3:01:25, 19. K.Scott 3:06:53, 20.M.Provaznik 3:09:54, 21. A.Taylor 3:10:14, 22. F.Gocian 3:13:06, 23. K.Taylor 3:15:58, 24. O.AlMarri 3:19:33, 25. H.Benett 3:21:45, 26. D: Petkovski 3:24:20, 27. M.Webb 3:37:19, 28. R.Beylouni 3:40:32, 29. L.Duffy 3:46:25, 30. Raul+Jonas 3:46:56