The Elimination Race (12.03.2011)

In the first edition of the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon in 2010 the field was one of the strongest outside the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. Hard to believe that the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority made it possible to bring an even stronger athletes to the 2011’s start line. And the number of participants has doubled to nearly 1,500 starters.

It is an honour to have a race like that as a home race. But on the other side it is extremely difficult to reach a top result with all these competitors. In addition, March is very early to be in good shape. For most, it was therefore the first test  after the winter months.

That was the same for the Abu Dhabi Triathlon Team, with the exception of Paul Ambrose, who came from Australian summer. Though he raced with some health problems. The conditions in Abu Dhabi with more than 30 degrees Celsius and strong winds did not make it easier. That could just be expected at the early morning hours in the bay in front of the Emirates Palace. So most of the favourites, among them Faris Al-Sultan, came together out of the water and started their way towards the Formula 1 course on Yas Island. Especially at the beginning the athletes did not keep the required distance between each other so the group size did not decrease. On the 2nd half it started to get an elemination race and the American Starykowisz broke away from the field. In that phase Faris lost the connection to the leading group. But everybody knew that the decision would have made at the final run. Some of the favourites burned up in the UAE sun. Surprisingly, it was then the Belgian Van Lierde, who stormed a few seconds ahead of compatriot Marino Vanhoenacker and the Luxembourger Dirk Bockel as first across the finish line. Faris was able to mobilize more forces on the run course and even ultimately secured the 8th place.

In the women's race it should be the day of the Englishwoman Julie Dibens. She celebrated a start-finish victory. Rachel Joyce did not initially find her rhythm and tormented herself around the swimming as well as around first kilometers of the bike. Course. But the longer it went the faster she got. With an excellent run performance she came as 4th pretty close to the podium.

For Faris, there is now not much time for regeneration. Already upcoming weekend he will go in his first Ironman 70.3 races of this season in Singapore. For all other team athletes, there will be at least a few more rest days.