Bei den Männern hatten sich in der 30-jährigen Geschichte der Ironman-WM auf Hawaii erst einmal zuvor zwei Schweizer innerhalb der Top Ten und damit in den Preisgeld-Rängen klassiert. Der Ironman-Switzerland-Sieger Schildknecht sorgte mit Platz 4 für das beste Schweizer Männer-Resultat seit Christoph Mauch, der1998 und 1999 jeweils auf diesem Platz finishte. Die Titel holten sich der Vorjahres-Zweite Craig Alexander (Au) sowie Chrissie Wellington (Gb), die zum zweiten Mal in Folge bei den Frauen siegte. Sibylle Matter klassierte sich immer noch beachtlichen 13. Rang. Die sechsfache Siegerin Natascha Badmann hielt sich bis ungefähr Kilometer 15 im Laufen beachtlich, musste dann aber wegen Schmerzen an ihrer lädierten Schulter aufgeben. (Quelle: SI/20minuten/Bild Keystone)

Motor de Speed Racer morre na largada e por pouco não perde de Cameron Diaz e Ashton Kutcher

Com a expressiva estréia de Homem de Ferro na semana passada, não havia dúvida alguma de que os jatos plantares do Vingador Dourado conseguiriam deixar para trás o motor do Mach 5 neste fim de semana. O que ninguém desconfiava é que Speed Racer teria uma abertura tão morna: abaixo das piores expectativas de seu estúdio.

No topo do pódio, Homem de Ferro fez mais 50,5 milhões de dólares – queda de 49% em relação à semana passada -, somando até aqui 177 milhões e batendo o orçamento de 140 milhões do filme em apenas 10 dias em um só território. Na trama, perto da morte com um estilhaço de explosão alojado próximo ao seu coração, Tony Stark opta pela retaliação aos seus captores. Com sua inteligência, cria uma armadura que além de mantê-lo vivo é dotada de incríveis armamentos. Com ela consegue escapar do cativeiro – apenas para descobrir um plano nefasto com implicações globais, o que o leva a tornar-se o super-herói Homem de Ferro.

Na vice-liderança, Speed Racer abriu com 20,20 milhões. O valor por pouco não o colocou na terceira colocação, atrás da comédia romântica What Happens in Vegas. Andy e Larry Wachowski, que decidiram realizar esse filme, apto a todos os públicos, depois de verem os números de estréia de A Era do Gelo 2, não devem estar nem um pouco satisfeitos. Na trama do filme, Speed tenta honrar a memória do irmão, Rex, morto na pista de corrida. Quando Speed recusa uma oferta milionária da Royalton Industries para ser seu piloto, ele não só enfurece o maníaco dono da companhia como descobre um segredo: algumas das maiores corridas do circuito estão sendo arranjadas. Se Speed não correr para a Royalton, a Royalton assegurará que o Mach 5 nunca mais atravesse uma linha de chegada. O único jeito de Speed salvar o negócio de sua família é se unir ao rival Corredor X e vencer The Crucible, um rali que atravessa o país e desafia a morte – a corrida que tomou a vida de seu irmão.

Jogo de Amor em Las Vegas (What Happens in Vegas), comédia estrelada por Cameron Diaz e Ashton Kutcher, faturou alto para o gênero – 20 milhões – e ficou com a medalha de bronze. Na trama, os dois vivem um casal que bebe todas em Las Vegas, se casa e, no dia seguinte, ganha uma bolada no cassino. O caso é que eles se odeiam e não querem dividir o dinheiro – só vivendo juntos pra ver qual deles desiste primeiro. A direção é do novato Tom Vaughan e a estréia no Brasil acontece em 27 de junho.

Na quarta posição, outra comédia romântica: O Melhor Amigo da Noiva (Made of Honor), essa estrelada por Michelle Monaghan e Patrick Dempsey. O filme faturou até aqui 26,2 milhões de dólares e estréia no Brasil na próxima sexta, 16 de maio.

The Ironman Langkawi officially started today at 7.30am at Jetty Kuah, Langkawi.. I could not make it there to support fellow friends who are taking part. Major Kalam, Azwar, Stupe, Abu and Sandy among a few. And having your mobile phone R.I.P 5 days ago adds more to the frustration.. hampa..   Couldn’t sms and call.. Anyway, I manage to call Major Kalam before race day. They were carbo-loading when I called.  My wish for all friends and triathletes taking part in this race is that ALL finish the race and come back safely ! The clock on my wall shows 4.30pm.. Already 9 hours ! So some may be running or cycling . For full race coverage , please log on to ironmanlive.com.

Guys >> Faris al Sultan – Winner of Ironman Langkawi 2008 !

Faris Al-Sultan (#1) won in 8:34:42
* Petr Vabrousek (#11) at 9:04:54
* Elmar Schuberth (#10) at 9:06:03

And some updates for our Malaysian triathletes below ! (..campur2..)

Sarael, Jasmi

208/107/63

31

01:21:53

05:44:29

00:00:00

00:00:00

Lim, Fiona

173/205/203

37

01:18:34

06:25:22

00:00:00

00:00:00

Ong, Siok Bee

458/343/–

36

01:54:47

06:46:39

00:00:00

00:00:00

Hashim, Hairul Azwar

172/132/140

30

01:17:55

05:58:34

00:00:00

00:00:00

Mohammed, Dicky Zulkarnin

411/228/243

32

01:43:34

06:09:27

00:00:00

00:00:00

Khan, Mohd Shazly

205/361/–

31

01:21:45

07:31:39

00:00:00

00:00:00

Cheong Chee Liong, Cecil

104/99/99

28

01:11:48

05:52:55

04:34:39

11:46:54

Zainol, Zabil Ihram

219/209/212

34

01:22:58

06:14:48

00:00:00

00:00:00

Jun Shen, Chan

242/265/256

18

01:24:29

06:44:08

00:00:00

00:00:00

Teo, Chin Hun

479/376/–

39

02:24:16

06:31:01

00:00:00

00:00:00

Pie, Kalam

437/–/–

40

01:48:47

00:00:00

00:00:00

00:00:00

Abu Soffian	464/345/–	30	01:59:27	06:38:38	00:00:00	00:00:00
Abu Hasan Sazalli, Saiful Azri	304/204/206	25	01:29:22	06:07:19	00:00:00	00:00:00

Mohd Nor, Azmar

395/364/–

35

01:40:39

07:06:30

00:00:00

00:00:00

]]> http://theamateurathlete.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/ironman-2008-101-ways-to-get-caught-naked/ Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:28:44 +0000 julietjones http://theamateurathlete.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/ironman-2008-101-ways-to-get-caught-naked/

After enjoying the revealry that was Ironman 2008 in Taupo I’m seriously considering creating a new coffee table book called 101 ways to get caught naked.

Now where did this silly notion come from?  No, contrary to popular thought, it was not from the spectacular invasion of hot bodies into Taupo.

IRONMAN WEEKEND 2008

We drove the bus into Taupo town centre and parked overnight so we could get the primo parking spot for ironman the next day … and here begins our ironman weekend story.

It all started with the desire for food at about midnight and unfortunately for our tastebuds the only establishment open at that time of night is McD’s. So whilst waiting for our McDonald’s burgers that get passed through a grim and tight hole in the wall (for the safety of us all) we had sprinting races up and down the main street. All this mindless and unnecessary exercise made us quite hot, so of course the next necessary thing to do is to cool down in some way, and since the lake is a mere stroll away, shouldn’t the way to do this be obvious?

For those that don’t know Taupo, the lake in relation to the town centre is at the bottom of a cliff, so one has to negotiate the dark and narrow claustrophobic passage upon stairs to the beach – I mean no one would see us take a dip naked. Unfortunately, we underestimated the speed at which a group of four drunken but good meaning Pomes could descend those stairs. Jamie, perhaps the resident streaker from Bristol, couldn’t wait to get his gears off and join in the joviality; the other three just enjoyed the spectacle.

An hour or so later back at the bus Crusty launched himself as naked as a harrier jet from the back of the bus and partook in his first naked cuff fight. I’m sure the Greeks had no trouble throwing a few punches in the nick in the dark ages, so I guess it’s only fitting that I had just been calling Crusty Zeus. The full and explanatory version of this story will only be told to close friends – as for the rest – try not to let your imaginations fly too high.

And just as a footnote we do appreciate that the victim of this assault took the time to complement Zeus on loose appendages as he took flight.

When the laughter died down, our bus was then invaded by ten or more migratory Europeans looking for somewhere to complete their nights drinking … so Crusty got to practice his French & Dutch, and I got told fantastic stories about masturbating Leopards by a Norwegian who kept grabbing my head – and we all remained happily agreeable and clothed throughout.

At about 5.30 we were finally left alone to sleep. “Wake up! It’s the Maoris!” … it was to gentle nudging and this phrase that I awoke in the dawn – IRONMAN 2008 – at 7.00am 1200 Zeus and Athena like bodies swam off to do their thing accompanied by chanting Maoris paddling in a Ceremonial War Canoe.

I knew a few people doing the event, so indulged in yelled out expressions of encouragement every now and then during the day, but mainly we shopped, felt tired, drunk coffee and napped in the bus. We saw in the winners, and later cheered on Ironman completers at the finishing chute and I got misty eyed for the emotional souls running down the chute with their children, but enthusiasm for the event waned and in the end tiredness won the battle. Home at 8.00pm … in a deep slumber at 8.02pm

The next day, everywhere we went there were Ironmen. I took Crusty mountain biking out to Aratiatia Dam, were funnily enough we stood at the barrier waiting for the dam to open right next to the same people we were standing next to at the barrier of the ironman finishing chute the night before. From Aratiatia we went to Huka Falls (more nature viewing Ironmen) then Hub Café for lunch (helicoptering ironmen), and then to hot water beach on the Waikato (no ironmen, just a nice secluded spot with a natural hot-water spring). You guessed it; we took the clothes off again and lay down for a relaxing natural hot tub. It was wonderful, except for the jet boating ironmen flying past every twenty minutes or so. We were fairly well submerged – so whether this is being caught naked is debatable.

Final stop on our mountain bikes was the hot water spring at Spa Park (which was incidentally and unsurprisingly teeming with bathing ironmen). We kept our clothes on for our second mineral water dip that day.

At home after our energetic day on the bikes, I phone to find my mother will not be dropping off the kids for another hour. Any parent would know what two consenting adults do when they know they have a childfree house to themselves for an hour and nothing else to do. Hmmm … all healthy and normal behaviour … however what we didn’t count on was the neighbours kid that came in the open door and presently and silently scouted the house for their friends!

I wonder how the next 97 will go?