Teenager surprises veterans
YOUNGSTER Daniel Lee Chi-wo took his elders by storm in winning the first race in the 1993 Aquathon Series at Sha Tin yesterday.
The 15-year-old saw off a field which included some of the territory's top triathletes.
He completed the 800-metre swim just over a minute ahead of Con O'Kelly, Alan Wilson and Wan Shu-wah, all of whom emerged from the water together. Lee then put in a powerful five-kilometre run and managed to hold on to his lead by just nine seconds from astrong-finishing O'Kelly.
The battle for third place saw Wilson and Wan running shoulder to shoulder until the final kilometre when Wilson surged ahead.
Lee's surprising win showed how a year's instruction from Ruth Hunt has benefitted him.
Hunt, a world-ranked female triathlete, is the newly-appointed coaching director of the Hongkong Triathlon Association.
Lee must now be considered one of the most promising local triathletes, but his weakest discipline is cycling, which doesn't feature in the two-discipline aquathon.
Hunt plans to put the teenager through an intensive cycling programme in the next few months.
In the junior events, Canon-Puma triathlete Cheung Man-ho had a comfortable win by finishing the 600 metres swim and three kilometres run in 19 minutes 50 seconds, ahead of Andy Leung and Ryuichiro Iijima.
The women's race was won by Sue Ross who last month won the Singapore International Triathlon, and came in second behind Hunt at the Borneo International Triathlon, beating off a strong challenge from competitors from Australia.
At Sha Tin yesterday, she finished her 800 metres swim in second place behind Julia Cree, but managed to overtake her at the two-kilometre point in the run to win in a time of 35:04.
