Posted: March 7, 2006

Triathlon: Irish Man Ciaran Cassidy takes 3rd Place in his age group in IronMan New Zealand and qualifies for Ironman Kona in Hawaii Oct 2006

After months of preparation over a thousand Competitors of the Bonita Ironman in New Zealand were no doubt disappointed when they woke to gusting winds of over 30knots prior to the event last weekend....

With the incredibly strong winds and waves of over one metre high the swim in lake Taupo had to be cancelled. Organisers were still left with the tough decision of whether to cancel the event entirely, However after much deliberation it was decided to run the competition halving both the bike and run splits. With weather conditions as they were this still proved to be a difficult challenge for those who took part.

Competitors started individually with elite athletes going at 30 second intervals and the age group competitors were sent off at five second intervals.

Congratulations to Irelands Ciaran Cassidy who raced a very impressive race given the conditions and came 79th overall in a total of 4:13:50 out of a total of 1243 finishers. He also came in 3rd in his age-group (45-49) Ciaran took part in the event with the intention of qualifying for the Kona Ironman in Hawaii in October 2006. In order to qualify for the event you must have come 1st, 2nd or 3rd in your age group in an Ironman event. With prize money and qualifying slots for Kona remaining unchanged despite the last minute change in format of the race, Ciaran is well on his way.

Estonian Ain Alar Juhanson took the men's title in 3:31:06 putting an end to Kiwi, Cameron Brown's winning streak. Cameran had won five NZ Ironman events in a row but he crossed the line just 39 seconds after Ain Alar after a very tough race.

Aucklands, Joanna Lawn didn't suffer the same fate, she dominated the women's event and won by over four minutes making it four Ironman events in a row

Men’s Overall top five:
1. Ainalar JUHANSON 3:31:06
2. Cameron BROWN 3:31:45
3. Andrew YOUNG 3:44:19
4. Stephen BAYLISS 3:45:27
5. Gregory FRAINE 3:48:42

Women’s Overall top five
1. Joanna LAWN 4:10:33 
2. Tyler Stewart 4:12:20
3. Karyn BALLANCE 4:14:33 
4. Sarah FIEN 4:16:27 
5. Yoko HORI 4:17:47 

More information is available from IronmanLive.

Source: Triathlon Ireland.

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