Hong Kong's top triathletes, Con O'Kelly and Brian Bozarth, experienced the rigours of a gruelling race when they failed to finish the Phuket International Triathlon. O'Kelly, who has had a fine season so far, pulled out during the race after the swimming segment because of an upset stomach, while Bozarth pulled out exhausted in the running segment only one kilometre into the race. O'Kelly and Bozarth were among 93 triathletes from Hong Kong who took part in the largest triathlon in Asia outside Japan. A total of 450 competitors took part in the standard distance race of 1.5 km swim, 40 km cycling and 10 km run. Simon Lessing of Britain won the race in a time of one hour, 52.50 seconds. He was less than 10 seconds ahead of Mark Allen of the United States, who finished second in his last race before retirement. The Hong Kong contingent was led home by the rapidly improving Joe Richardson, who finished16th in the amateur race in 2:09.57. Julia Cree finished seventh overall in the women's field in 2:23.04.
