DAVAO CITY – Timothy Reed of Australia has won at every level in triathlon, including three Ironman 70.3 titles the Philippines, but considers the Alveo Ironman 70.3 as probably one of the toughest competitions out there.
Reed, 33, will face a brusing challenge in today’s main event as he goes up against former world champions and fellow Australians Craig Alexander and Ben Allen, Mauricio Mendez of Mexico and Bradley Weiss of South Africa that begins and ends at Azuela Cove.
The 2016 world champion said anybody who can endure the hot weather will have a bigger chance to win the event.
The 44-year-old Alexander is a three-time Ironman world winner, while Allen, Weiss and Mendez, who placed second in Cebu last year, are former Xterra world champions.
“Anything can happen,” said Reed, whose last swim-bike-run event was last November when he won the 5i50 Bellevue Resort Triathlon in Bohol. “The heat condition will have a lot to do on who is tough.”
“The outcome is not so important to me, rather just to really enjoy. First time in Davao, if there is any race in the Philippines I would love coming here. It’ll be very difficult for me not to race,” he said.
Meanwhile, last year’s Century Tuna Ironman 70.3 Subic titlist Radka Kahlefeldt of the Czech Republic headlines the women’s elite category with Australia’s Dimity Lee Duke and Anna Eberhardt of Hungary out to ruin her plans.
