at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. Almost 1,800 athletes took on the testing 140.6-mile race, with favourites Chrissie Wellington and Craig Alexander emerging as the winners. British triathlete legend Chrissie took her fourth Ironman world title

who did Phuket in 2010 warned me about the steep uphills and the sudden turns on the downhills. A week ago, I heard that a compatriot crashed during the bike recon for the Laguna Phuket Triathlon and didn’t get to race at all. I put in the hours

Distance: 1.5K/ 43K/ 10KWhere: Bowness-on-Windermere, CumbriaWhen: July 3First man: Steven Garner 2:27:39First woman: Christine Johnson 2:37:12Last finisher: 4:35:43No of finishers: 157Anyone who took part in this race last year could be forgiven

-distance record at Challenge Roth (8:18:32), breaking her own record, and she also won Ironman South Africa. She has never lost an Ironman race. She is unlikely to lose this one.Julie Dibens (UK)The 36-year-old from Salisbury came third at Kona in 2010, a

this year.Rasmus Henning (Den)Henning moved from Olympic-distance triathlon to Ironman in 2009 because he wanted to spend more time with his family (fewer races mean less travel). He made his mark quickly, winning Ironman China that year. Last year he won

deep puddles – the Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championships in Phuket didn’t quite follow the planned script.Introduced to the triathlon calendar in 2010, this race instantly became a must-do for triathletes around the world. A combination of a tough

or the really bad news?" he asks. With a week to go until we tackle the Norseman, the world's toughest long-distance triathlon, I'm hoping he'll tell me the event has been cancelled. I ask for the really bad news.  "I've just looked on Facebook and someone has

pressure on him going into the race because he was only in his second year as a pro and that the Kona racewould be only his third Ironman event. "If I could get top 15 I'd be ecstatic - anything above that would be a bonus," he added. Interestingly