The 113th International Desaru Triathlon 2024 in Desaru, Johor, saw veteran Spanish athlete Salvador Alacorn Alacio and national champion Ann Pow emerge as the fastest overall male and female runners, respectively.
Ann, 28, showed off her prowess in a gruelling competition that combined a routine of swimming 2km, cycling 90km and running 21km with a time of 5 hours, 21 minutes and 49 seconds (5:21:49).
Ann, who previously competed for Malaysia in the duathlon at the Cambodia SEA Games in 2022, defeated Yen Chan (5:51:47) and Fiona Lim (5:59:31), two competitors from Singapore.
The men’s race was dominated by Salvador, who has competed in the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii twice, as he crossed the finish line at 5:03:39.
Ann, who is also a well-known social media influencer, expressed satisfaction at the success she achieved.
“It was a pretty good race. Everything went well today, and the event was very well organised,” said Ann, who has more than 232,000 followers on her Instagram account.
“Honestly, I didn’t set high expectations for this competition, so I was quite surprised to see this encouraging result.
“Most unexpected was my running performance. Despite the hilly course at the end, I was able to maintain my normal pace.
“I take this race seriously because it is part of the important preparations ahead of Ironman Langkawi (in October), where I aim to win the title of the fastest female Malaysian rider.” she said.
As for Salvador, the success helped him make up for his disappointment at Ironman 70.3 Desaru two months ago.
“Very happy. In May, I also competed in an event with a similar distance here, but was unable to perform at the best level due to food poisoning,” said the businessman, who was previously based in Malaysia before moving to Singapore.
“I’ve been in this region for a long time, so I think I can handle the heat better than other European athletes. However, I admit that even now, I still struggle with the heat here.
“It means a lot to me to be the first to cross the finish line today. It shows that all the hard work I’ve put in in training is worth it, isn’t it? I’ve been on the podium many times, but to emerge as the fastest rider overall, it’s not a matter of prevalence, so it feels a bit special.” he said.
In the race that began and ended at Sand & Sandals Desaru Beach Resort and Spa, Andrew Patterson of the United States finished second fastest with a time of 5:15:19, followed by Tan Kim Bok (5:24:03), who was the top local male competitor.
There are three other categories in the 113th Desaru International Triathlon event: Olympic Distance (1.5km swimming-40km cycling-10km run), Sprint (750m-20km cycle-5km run), and Super Sprint (300m swim-10km cycle-2km run).
The event is organised by Eventure Global with support from the Johor state government, Tourism Johor, Tourism Malaysia, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the Malaysian Triathlon Association.
It managed to attract the participation of about 500 participants from 25 countries.
Chairman of the Pengerang Municipal Council, Hajah Zihan Ismail, did the “flag off” for the Sprint and Super Sprint categories.
