Paula Newby-Fraser and Patrick Vernay won Ironman Korea on Sunday, which became a duathlon to avoid rough waters caused by Typhoon Chaba, which had threatened the Korean peninsula over the weekend.

The start time was delayed by an hour, and participants left transition on their bikes at five-second intervals. Newby-Fraser would once again show her strength on the bike building a six-minute lead over the field as she entered the transition to begin the marathon. Newby-Fraser then cruised to her record 24th Ironman win, finishing the duathlon in 8:54, good enough for 12th overall and giving her the win by 18 minutes. Charlotte Paul of Australia, in her pro debut, finished second, and Naomi Imaizumi of Japan was third.

As the men came back to transition after a difficult ride, Vernay and Bustos were separated by mere seconds. As they headed out, Vernay took the lead—one he would never relinquish. Vernay increased his lead as the marathon went along. The Frenchman battled the heat, the wind, and fatigue holding on to win in a time of 7:44. Bustos was second, 20 minutes later, and Korea's Byung Hoon Park placed third.

RESULTS

Ironman Korea

Jeju, Korea; Sunday, Aug. 30, 2004

(112mi/26.2mi)

MEN

1. Patrick Vernay (NCD)   7:42:33 (4:46:28/2:55:06)

2. Cristian Bustos (CHI)   8:02:26 (4:47:10/3:13:52)

3. Park Byung Hoon (KOR)   8:05:43 (4:58:22/3:05:52)

4. Yeo Chang Jae (KOR)   8:11:12 (5:07:23/3:02:17)

5. Yoshinori Tamura (JPN)   8:12:52 (5:02:04/3:09:22)

WOMEN

1. Paula Newby-Fraser (USA)   8:54:02 (5:26:08/3:26:09)

2. Charlotte Paul (AUS)   9:12:22 (5:41:42/3:28:16)

3. Naomi Imaizumi (JPN)   9:23:50 (5:32:05/3:47:25)

4. Cailla Patterson (CAN)   9:41:19 (5:55:50/3:43:57)

5. Dianna Ineman (USA)   10:52:43 (6:06:16/4:44:46)