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New Zealand Ironman Bryan Rhodes ( Taupo ) has placed 3rd overall at today's Ford Ironman Triathlon held in Florida USA.

Held at Panama City Beach , Florida this race attracts over 3,000 entrants who compete over the full Ironman distance .. 3km swim..180 km bike..42 km run add in hot humid conditions and you have one of the most competitive Ironman races held.

Rhodes in August was leading the UK Ironman event by 12 minutes on the run when his calf muscle pulled and he had to walk the remainder of the race finishing 20 th. In 2005 he won that event and last year the day prior to the race was knocked off his bike by a truck and had to with draw. After this years race he sat around in front of the TV and played X Box at his training base Schaffhausen , Switzerland .

After four days his coach Graham Park ( New Plymouth ) rung him and said to his charge.."right you are hurting , Im hurting just as much, so you are doing Ironman Florida in nine weeks time and will make amends there .."

Rhodes two days later had booked flights & packed his bags , bike and went to Boulder , USA to altitude which would not only speed up the healing process but Park a great advocate of altitude training felt he also needed to have the right medical personal on hand to monitor the recovery & healing of his injury along with altitude based training. After two weeks of just swimming and cycling twice a day Rhodes was also in the pool aqua jogging with still doubts. Mid September he was running up to a hour on trails and prior to race day managing 2 hour runs every second day without any concerns.

Concern was had he done enough running and had his August run fitness held enough for an Ironman just 2 months after having just done one ? Critics comments fell on deaf ears.

Come race day Rhodes lead out of the 3.8 km swim in a time of 49 minutes 2 seconds , on the flat and fast bike course of 180 km he came into transistion 2 with a bike time of 4 hours 37 minutes and 3 seconds..onto the 42 km marathon run he was in 9 th overall for most of the race , at 5 km to go he moved into 4th and then put in a gutsy run performance and ran up into 3 rd overall...in a time of 8 hours 26 minutes 52 seconds.

Overall winner was Sydney Olympic Games Triathlon silver medalist Stephan Vuckovic ( Germany ) who beat the course record by one second in a time of 8 hours 23 minutes 49 seconds.

The last word...he is the master motivator, what he says is often profound and has the effect of making you think a little about yourself...Rhodes on Coach G Force

For a full set of results www.ironmanflorida.com