Long road leads to Hawaii for record number of HK entrants

On any given Saturday morning, dozens and dozens of triathletes - many on the latest, high-end carbon-fibre time-trial bikes weighing the equivalent of a large bag of rice - zip along Cheung Tung Road, the service road that runs from Tung Chung town to Hong Kong Disneyland.

The thoroughfare's flat terrain provides the perfect training ground as riders gear up for the demands of one of the sporting world's most intimidating challenges: the Ironman.

Since the event's creation in 1978, the desire to test oneself to the limit has become an obsession for thousands around the world. The lure of swimming 3.8km before climbing onto a bicycle to ride 180km and then complete the full 42km of a marathon seems to grow and grow.

At last count, there were 25 races on the calendar and, while every Ironman race has its own challenges, the pinnacle of the sport takes place in its birth place, Kona island, Hawaii.

Every year, athletes from all over the world converge on the Ironman World Championships to go head-to-head on the famous course. Today, six Hong Kong-based athletes will be lining up alongside 1,600 other qualifiers, who are divided into categories, with professional athletes going up against one another while the mere mortals are divided into age groupings of five-year bands.

For some, like Brigitte Niederberger, the experience is nothing new as her appearance in Kona will be her fourth. But for Paul Thompson, Julie Woods, Colin Hill, Bruno Lebeda and Erich Felbabel this will be their first time racing on the island.