New best for Shaikh Nasser

HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Representative of His Majesty the King for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and President of Bahrain Olympic Committee (4 hours 9 minutes and 5seconds) came in fourth place yesterday with a new personal best in the 25-29 age years category in the first Dubai 70.3 Ironman, which is also the opening race of three for the Nasser Bin Hamad Triple Crown.

Shaikh Nasser was one of more than 1,200 participants both male and female in various age categories including many professional triathletes along with a sizeable number of amateurs.

The course included a 1.2km swim off Jumeirah Public Beach (which was reduced for safety reasons by 700 metres) due to strong winds and currents, then a 90km bike ride leaving the city and into the desert dunes and back and finishing with a 21.1km run over 3 loops of the Jumeirah Beach running trail.

Shaikh Nasser completed the swim (13:19), cycling (2:26.17) and the run (1:25.55).

Winning the category was Sweden’s Richard Carlsson (3:58.19) and overall 20th, followed in second by Ryan Christian (4:00.17) and overall 23rd running for Qatar, with Belgian Ruben De Gendt (4:05.24) third and overall 32nd.

After the race, Shaikh Nasser said, “It is important to take part in these events and further the experience for the team and achieve even better results with all these top world triathletes to compete against. I am pleased with the results and achievements of the team and its further development.”

Shaikh Faisal bin Rashid Al Khalifa, President of the Bahrain Royal Endurance and Equestrian Federation later congratulated Shaikh Nasser on his fourth place achievement.

Meanwhile, Bahrain Endurance Elite 13 triathletes took first places in both the men and women Pro-Elite categories.

In the men’s category, Elite 13 team member and World Ironman Championship Jan Frodeno of Germany finished first in three hours 34 minutes 48 seconds, followed in second by Josh Amberger (Australia, 3:41.42), third Bart Aernouts (Belgium, 3:43.58), fourth was last year’s Dubai Triple Crown leg winner, Terenzo Bozzone (New Zealand, 3:44.01), fifth Jaroslav Kovacic (Slovenia, 3:34.55) and sixth Nick Baldwin (Seychelles, 3:49.20).

The winner of the women’s category was last year’s Triple Crown and $1million winner of all three races and Elite 13 team member, Switzerland’s Daniela Ryf (4:01.09) who was 26th overall followed by another Elite 13 team member and compatriot Carolina Steffen (4:05.01) and 30th overall, with Finland’s Kaisa Lehtonen (4:05.03) third and 31st overall.