STEVENS PLACES FIFTH IN IRONMAN SOUTH AFRICA

PORT ELIZABETH, SOUTH AFRICA—Professional triathlete Amanda Stevens placed 5^th in the Spec-Saver’s Ironman South Africa triathlon on Sunday April 10, 2011.  Beginning at 7 a.m. South African time, Amanda finished in 9 hours, 24 minutes, and 17 seconds.

          The race consisted of a 3.8km swim around Hobie Beach, a 180km cycle, and a 42.2km run.  Amanda led the women in the swimming portion of the event.  She was first out of the water with a time of 48:55 and first to transition onto the bike.  During the bike sequence Amanda held close within the top 3 spots.  Amanda started the running sequence in 3^rd place but later fell to 5^th, where she finished behind Chrissie Wellington, Rachael Joyce, Diana Riesler, and Sylvia Felt

When asked about the race, Amanda said, “What a fantastic day!  To be able to race in South Africa in such a phenomenally supported race was like non-other.  The crowds were lining the entire course and cheering all day long.  The competition was outstanding and the girls really made me work hard today!  It was fun to mix it up with the top women in the sport and finish in the top 5.  I am looking forward to visiting the lion and elephant parks before heading back home to the good ole USA!”

Amanda’s competitor Chrissie Wellington broke the course record by 42 minutes and 36 seconds with a time of 8:33:56.  Champion of the men’s division, Raynard Tissinks, also broke the course record by approximately 12 minutes.

For more information check out http://live.ironmanlive.com/Event/Spec-Savers_Ironman_South_Africa.  

It's Race Time!

Follow Amanda @dramandastevens on Twitter to see live updates of today's race!!

The Bike...

For those of you wondering, here it is!  My pride and joy and  my best friend for 1/3 of the race: MY BIKE!!

This year I am riding the wonderful BLUE Triad SL!  Blue improved the aerodynamics with the utilization of SFT2 tube shapes, added a new front end design, and helped improve my time on the biking portion of the race!  I can't wait to see how this baby performs in Ironman South Africa, which is only 15 hours away!  Better go get ready!

Interested in more BLUE bikes?  http://www.rideblue.com/index.php

Preparation for Ironman South Africa

Hey guys!

It's bedtime here in South Africa, but I thought I would give a shout out to my favorite people before I get some much needed rest!  Today I had the honor of joining some of the top triathletes in the world for a press conference at The Beach Hotel.

There was lots of talk about how exciting this race will be because of all the competition!  There are 1,745 athletes competing for the top 30 places in order to go to Kona later this year for the world championships. I am going to compete to my fullest potential and give this race everything I've got.  After months of training I am more than ready to compete Sunday.

I hope you all will join me as a race this Sunday at 4 a.m. (American CST time) in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

 To get up-to date information, follow me on Twitter @dramandastevens or on my Facebook fanpage at www.facebook.com/docamanda. For other info on the race check out http://www.triangle.cc/event/default.asp?MicroSiteID=2

Amanda Talks South Africa

Ironman South Africa- April 10th!

For more information on my upcoming race follow us on Twitter @DrAmandaStevens or on my Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/docamanda.

Also check out http://www.triangle.cc/event/default.asp?MicroSiteID=2 for other race information. :)