Cameron Brown 1st at the Quzhou International Half Ironman

Ni Hao from Quzhou, China,

Well today turned out pretty well with a win at the Quzhou International Half Ironman. It's been a tough week after the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. I flew back home to New Zealand for 24hrs before flying 12hrs to Shanghai and then a 2:30hr bullet train to the city of Quzhou. The city is a small one by Chinese standards but still has 2.5 million people! I came here in June to promote the race and it was a lot cooler this time around, temps were in the low 20's compared to 30c.

Race day dawned even colder with a morning temperature of 16c and only a max of 20c with rain throughout the bike leg. The swim was held in the river running straight through the middle of town and was only around 18c so it made wetsuits compulsory. I was out of the water in 2nd place but managed to take the lead in the first 500m of the bike. The bike featured 4 loops around the city centre but mid way through the ride it really started to rain and with plenty of U turns and corners it made for some slow cornering, the last thing I wanted to do was have a fall! Mid way through the bike I had built my lead to 4mins and by the end of the ride it was around 8mins! I was happy to have as much space between myself and 2nd as it was my first run back since Kona and I didn't want to run hard after running 42km in scorching temps the previous weekend.

The 20km run was fast and flat along the city river and featured 4x5km loops, I was comfortable and maintaining my 8min buffer so It was nice to be able to run within my self and cruise to the line and win the 1st Quzhou Half Ironman. Sorry no results at this stage.

I'll now be enjoying some down time and easy training before my next race which will be loads of fun! The Pioneer Mountain Bike stage race at the end of November through the southern Alps of New Zealand.

I'll be in touch soon. Thanks again for your support.

Cameron Brown