HAVING won this year's Australian Long Course Triathlon Championships in Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Weymouth's Abi Bayley recently took on her second Ironman challenge in China.
Haikou, the capital of Hainan Island, which is described as the tail of the dragon' and China's Hawaii provided the perfect setting for the event and it certainly tested the competitors' mettle with the temperature soaring into the 90s.
With the conditions both humid and windy, Bailey swam 2.4 miles in the South China Sea, cycled 112 miles alongside rice paddies, duck farms and grazing water buffalo and then ran a full 26.2-mile marathon along palm-lined Bin Hai Road in an awesome time of 10hrs 43mins 11secs.
That was good enough to land her third spot behind Belinda Granger of Australia in this inaugural Ironman China.
As reported in the Echo in January, 2007, Bayley "went in search of warmer climes" to train in her pursuit of triathlon excellence. In February, March and April 2007 she was based in Brisbane, Australia and for the rest of the year in Boulder, Colorado, USA.
In 2007, Ironman 70.3 races (swim 1.2 mile, bike 56 miles, run 13.1 miles) took Bayley to St Croix, US Virgin Isles in May (fourth place), Exmoor, UK in June (eighth place), and Racine on the shores of Lake Michigan, USA in July (third place).
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In August, she then travelled to Jeju Island, South Korea for her first Ironman race where she finished fourth, but in a slow time having been badly affected by the extremely hot and humid conditions.
In September 2007, Bayley finished second in the Cancun, Mexico 70.3 race before she then went to Clearwater, Florida for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships where, supported by her parents and sister, she placed 14th on the professional stage.
After her Ironman China success, Bayley and her professional triathlete boyfirend, Steve Waite, who won the 70.3 Ironman race in China on the same day, flew back to Boulder, Colorado to resume training for their next challenge.
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