Ritcey & Ribeiro ready for AAC as fastest at Merrell AA Off-Rd Tri

Merrell AA Off-Road Triathlon – Bike 16 km – Run 8 km – Kayak 6 km– Pui O, Lantau, Hong Kong – Sunday Nov 8, 2009

Hong Kong – Portuguese Pedro Ribeiro from Macau teamed up with Canadian Jeremy Ritcey from Hong Kong to win this years Merrell AA Off Road Triathlon consisting 16 km of mountain biking, 8 km of mountain trail running and 6 km of ocean kayaking at Pui O beach to show they are a serious team in this Decembers Action Asia Challenge.

“Well yes it was a warm-up, but didn’t feel like it as a bloody difficult course which was never easy with 2 of the strongest mountain bikers (Cosmo Richards and Pierre Le Magnan) leading for the bike and part of the run, until we caught them and held on thru the kayak to take the win” said Macau’s Ribeiro standing next to his teammate Ritcey the overall winners in 3 hours 1 minutes 58 seconds.

“Oh it was a wicked run course, single track with a lot of new stuff we haven’t seen for a while and we did our best after Ribeiro & Ritcey passed us to try and haul them in on the kayak, but they were too far in front” said Cosmo Richards on the 2nd place team with Pierre Le Magnan taking 2nd overall in 3 hours 2 minutes 37 seconds less than a minute behind.

Andrew Thomson teamed up with Kris Inglis to take 3rd overall in 3 hours 9 minutes 24 seconds. “Well what can we say. It seemed like nobody was in front of us and nobody was behind us as the front 2 were too far in front and we had a good lead on the teams behind us, so I guess we’ll just have to train harder to catch them next time said Thomson.

Fourth place overall and the fastest local Hong Kong born team were Kong Chi Ming and Lau Siu Man from Team Beyond Limits both Fire Services employees. “We both just want to win this years Action Asia Challenge in December and we knew this would be a great warm-up to see all the top teams” said Kong whose team finished in 3 hours 20 minutes 52 seconds.

Claire Price was the first female across the line on a mixed team with Fred Bourquin saying great things about the course, weather and great support from the volunteers winning the mixed category in 3 hours 27 minutes 20 seconds. “I wonder if there is a way I can recycle all my medals I have at home as they’re not really environmentally friendly”, Price said.

Participants had to mountain bike 16 km around the Chi Ma Wan circuit from Pui O, then do an 8 km mountain run passing over 303 m Lo Yan Shan before descending and ascending several smaller hills before finishing with a 6 km ocean kayak.

The Merrell AA Off-Road Triathlon could not have happened without Merrell, Maelstorm and Neil Pryde and all the hard working volunteers and staff who got up at 5am to get out to the course.

 Nov 8, 2009 –Post Chinese Press Release– Merrell AA Off-rd Triathlon

Merrell AA Off-rd Triathlon
(16m Bike - 8km Run - 6m Kayak)
Pui O Beach- Sunday Nov 28, 2009
Merrell貝澳三項鐵人耐力賽：越野單車、跑步及獨木舟

                                                                  
         Merrell貝澳三項鐵人耐力賽於貝澳沙灘舉行, 雖然比賽需要翻山涉水，但仍有不少參加者參與。當中不少參加者都表示，正因為比賽中的挑戰，才愛上參加這種運動。參賽者都表示，在比賽當中的一些項目，看上去雖然有一定的難度，但完成賽事才發現項目沒有想像中困難。

         對於新加入的參賽者，動感亞洲麥龍生建議，比賽最少要有一個月的準備，最重要是享受比賽中挑戰帶來的樂趣。做為一個獨木舟者，你必須學會利用您身體各部份功能，配合槳法的各種變化，來達成泛舟的樂趣。在於比賽中有相當的危險性, 需經過石灘，山澗等, 所以大會指定所有參賽者於跑步比賽中必須戴上攀石頭盔以確保安全。

於貝澳沙灘舉行的Merrell貝澳三項鐵人耐力賽，以2人隊際形式參與，以顯示同伴間之協調。比賽由沙灘開始，參賽者先需跑100米後回到停泊單車處取單車，然後往芝麻灣半島，圍繞一圈；再回到貝澳沙灘，跑上高300米的老人山，又回到貝澳泳灘；最後一激便要跳上獨木舟，沿貝澳灣、望東灣、咀排再到二浪，全程約六公里。參賽者一邊泛舟一邊觀覽大自然環境，增加競賽中的樂趣之餘，亦可放鬆一下緊張心情。經過一輪激戰後, 結果由Ribeiro Ritcey的 Jeremy Ritcey及 Pedro Ribeiro 以3小時01分58秒勝出，他們實也是實力非凡。賽後他們表示，起初知道第二隊與他們時間很接近，所以盡量於單車時將距離拉遠，但第二隊的參賽者實力也不弱，緊貼而上，最後能於跑步時跟對方有幾分鐘距離。而HKMBA Racing的Cosmo Richards及Pierre le Magnan以3小時02分37奪得亞軍，緊接在後。他們視對方為強勁假想敵，加上天氣炎熱，只能於比賽中段爭持不下決定勝敗。誰是霸主, 一賽定輸贏。他們表示，第一名原本落後兩分鐘，但對手實力實在太強勁，所以被反超前。Cosmo很享受這次路線，又讚揚同伴做得好，自己反而於實事中發生幾次抽筋。不過他們同聲對動感亞洲舉行是次活動，表示讚賞。Kris Inglis及Andy Thomson以落後7分鐘成為是次比賽三名，表示很好運地能跟第四名保持距離；可能心急想拋離對手，於山路一段曾滑倒，最好然後跟第二名拉近一點，但上獨木舟後5公里就發生抽筋情況，於是於水上一段輸了點時間，但仍無損參賽的雅興。

而第一對香港人以3小時20分52秒奪得男子組六十歲或以上組別第一名。江志明及劉少汶都同為消防員，難怪有這麼好的體能。他們表示下次挑戰將會是於下月十三日舉行的國際性＜動感亞洲挑戰賽＞，希望屆時能有好成績。

是次參賽人數比上月舉辦的同類形比賽增加一成多(約四十人), 主辦單位雖額外增加限額令更多人能體驗固中樂趣, 藉此大力推廣越野項目。

活動名稱：Merrell貝澳三項鐵人耐力賽
 地   點   ：貝澳
比賽時間：上午九時半開始 (八時半登記)
參加方法：登入www.actionasiaevents.com　進行網上登記　或　於比賽當日進行現場報名
    費   用：網上登記並於於比賽前付款：800港元
即場報名: 1000港元

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