F.Van Lierde’s news : road to Kona 2014…‏

As ambassador of the first edition in Cannes, I came to the start of a competition with much shorter distances than usual. 2 km swimming, 80 km cycling and 16 km running, i.e. a mix of long-distance and short-distance athletes!

This could already be felt during the swimming part. The first round covering 1000 m went at full speed and I kept up in the leading group of four with, among others, Belaubre. During the second round I even managed to take the lead.

After a good switch I smoothly took the lead with Belaubre and Pasteur in my track. Just before halfway the Italian Molinari joined our group and left us behind several kilometres further on. A little later we were joined by another four men and I decided not to focus everything on cycling and fully go for the running. Pressing on by bike really had no use today for various reasons.

I’m most satisfied about the running part. 16 km is quite a short distance for me but I still managed to show that my basic speed is top notch. With one of the fastest running times (56 min 19 sec) I finished fourth at 50 sec from the winner and 10 sec from the podium. My finish time was 3 h 37 min 35 sec.

I return home with a good feeling about my fitness level.
A new step en route to Kona 2014!

See you soon,