Posted: June 15, 2005

Triathlon: Strangmuller, Rhodes, Tamura to compete at 2005 Ford Ironman USA Coeur d’Alene

COEUR D’ALENE, IDAHO—Jan Strangmuller (Czech Republic), Bryan Rhodes (New Zealand) and Yoshinori Tamura (Japan) will be in the running for the men’s title at 2005 Ford Ironman Coeur d’Alene that will be held on June 26 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Strangmuller placed third at Ironman Malaysia in February of 2005 and was eighth at Ironman Japan in 2004. Strangmuller posted the first Ironman win of his career in August of 2003 by winning Ironman Korea, with an overall time of nine hours, nine minutes and 42 seconds.

Rhodes has won Ironman Malaysia twice (2001 and 2002), posting a career-best Ironman finish time of 8:10:35 in 2002. He finished third place at both Ironman New Zealand in March of this year and the Half Ironman Mexico in 2004.

Tamura has proven to be a consistent triathlete at Ironman events since winning Ironman Asia in 2001, with an overall time of 8:41:19. Tamura quickly followed up with two consecutive championships at Ironman Japan in 2001 and 2002.

The Threesome has combined for six Ironman championships and is expected to challenge a talented men’s field, including 2004 Ford USA Lake Placid champion Simon Lessing (Great Britain), former Coeur d’Alene champions Chris Legh (Australia) and Michael Lovato (Boulder, Colo.) as well as Andy Martin (Bend, Oreg.), Dave Harju (Canada) and Matt Seeley (Polson, Mont.).

One major change at Ford Ironman USA Coeur d’Alene and Ford Ironman USA Lake Placid is that each will serve as a men’s only professional and women’s only professional races respectively in 2005.

There will be a $50,000 pro prize purse for professional men at the 2005 Ford Ironman USA Coeur d’Alene triathlon and a $50,000 women’s prize purse at the 2005 Ford Ironman USA Lake Placid triathlon.

More than 2,000 triathletes from around the world are expected to compete in the Ford Ironman USA Coeur d’Alene. Athletes will be competing for 80 qualifying spots to the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, as well as a $50,000 pro prize purse.