Dubai: Team Bahrain’s David Plese from Slovenia and Deirdre Casey of Ireland took top honours in the Dubai International Triathlon held at Atlantis, The Palm, here on Friday.
Plese finished the race in an impressive time of three hours, 58 minutes and 18 seconds to take the overall prize, while Casey was the fastest woman after coming home in 4:34.47.
The Slovenian winner was followed by Till Schramm of Germany in 4:02.07, while Ireland’s Kevin Thornton was third in 4:04.08.
“The course was great. The sea was really salty, which helps with buoyancy, and the bike ride was actually very technical. I had a good lead at the 5km turnaround point on the run, which gave me a huge boost to finish in such a fast time,” Plese said.
“I love racing in warm weather, so the course suited me just fine. Now I am really looking forward to Challenge Bahrain next month.”
Shaikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who is also preparing for the inaugural Challenge Bahrain, finished with a creditable time of 4:43.12.
More than 1,100 professional and amateur athletes took the plunge into the crystal clear waters off Atlantis, The Palm, on Friday morning to compete in the first part of the half ironman distance race. It featured a 1.9km swim, a 90km bike ride to Dubai Sports City and back and a 20k run along the crescent of Palm Jumeirah.
Dubai Sports Council (DSC) Board Member Saeed Hareb said: “We hope to make this an annual event in the Dubai sports calendar and hope to attract many more athletes in the future.”
Organised by Race ME with an endorsement from the DSC, the event was a sell-out and included almost 100 teams of three competitors.
