25.08.14

Brown wins Metaman Iron distance race - Well I'm over the moon in winning the Metaman Iron distance race on the island of Bintan in Indonesia.

The race is renowned for it's heat and humidity and we certainly had plenty of that.

I had a good swim to be out with the leading group which included Sweden's Fredrick Croneborg, Defending champion Courntney Ogden of Australia and German Stefan Schmid. The 180km bike is like a roller coaster and undulates the entire way and is a very tough ride. We all rode together for the 1st lap before the heavens started to open up with a some huge down pours. I was very happy to see the sight of rain but not like this! It mean't cooler conditions but we were extra cautious on the corners now which were now like a skating rink.

Four had now become three and as we reached T2 with Stefan Schmid leading us off the bike, I had a quick transition and found myself in the lead but was soon caught by Courtney at the 2km mark. The run was 6 laps of 7km with half on hard packed sand and the rest on the road, we both traded the lead and tried to break each other with little surges.

 

I was finally able to get a small gap at the 21km mark which grew to over three minutes by the finish line. I was ecstatic at the finish to win and take the $30,000 US 1st place winners cheque, not a bad pay day! I will now have a short break before my next race which is Ironman Langkawi, Malaysia on September 27th. It was another kiwi on the podium in the womens race with Gina Crawford taking home the tittle!!

 

AVANTI RIDERS