Triathlon: Brown second in German ironman

10.00am

New Zealand triathlete Cameron Brown finished second in Ironman Germany in Frankfurt today.

The four-time Ironman New Zealand champion produced a strong marathon run but could not run down the 14-minute buffer built up by German Stefan Holzner, who took out the title in a repeat of last year's battle with Brown.

Ironman Germany boasted the strongest field outside of the world championship in Hawaii with seven of last year's top-10 finishers at Kona. This included two two-time world champions Peter Reid (Canada) and Tim DeBoom (USA).

Holzner, a two-time Ironman New Zealand winner, made a break from fellow Germans Jurgen Zack and Thomas Hellreigel on the climb during the 180km bike and opened up a seven-minute break with a fourth four minutes to Brown, Reid and DeBoom.

Reid and DeBoom charged early on the run with Brown running his own pace 30 seconds behind. The Kiwi slowly picked off the tiring chasers in front, moving to second at the 34km mark with the gap reduced to five minutes on Holzner. Brown reduced the final margin to 1min 36sec over the final 8kms with a 2hr 44min marathon to produce yet another outstanding performance on the world Ironman stage, which drew praise from DeBoom.

"Cameron ran a really smart race," DeBoom said.

"My lack of racing showed ... the patience wasn't there."

Brown said the multi-lap course was deceptively tough, with strong winds on the bike and the run mainly on cobblestones, although he produced his fastest time over the Ironman distance.

"It'll take me a few weeks to recover from this one," he said.

Brown is the most consistent Ironman triathlete currently competing - he has not finished out of the first three in any Ironman race including the world championship for the past four years.

The top-rating German trio of Holzner, Zack and Hellreigel all managed to stay with Brown, DeBoom and Reid in the 3.8km two-lap wetsuit swim, and used this as the platform to mount their trademark challenge on the bike.

Holzner, who came out of retirement to win at home for the first time last year, said he will bypass Hawaii this year to concentrate on winning for a third time in a row at home.

Compatriot Nina Kraft took out the women's race in a sub-9hr performance.

Ironman Germany, Frankfurt (3.8k swim, 180km bike, 42km run):

1. Stefan Holzner (Germany) 8:16.35

2. Cameron Brown (New Zealand) 8:18.11

3. Tim DeBoom (USA) 8:18.47

4. Jurgen Zack (Germany) 8:22.49

5. Uwe Widmann (Germany) 8:32.28

6. Peter Reid (Canada) 8:34.50

7. Thomas Hellreigel (Germany) 8:35.52

- NZPA