Wedding belle Steinbecher celebrates third in Ironman Germany

It's not everyone's idea of a honeymoon, but Team Abu Dhabi Triathlon's (TADT) Andrea Steinbecher celebrated her recent marriage by finishing third in Ironman Germany 70.3 yesterday. "I lost lots of time on the bike and it was a hard race, but finishing third is a great honeymoon," said the German, who produced a spirited run to claw back a five-minute deficit in the final section. "In triathlon, it's always first the work, then the play."

Contrastingly, her compatriot and teammate Andy Boecherer - leading the men's race after the swim and cycle disciplines - finished fourth after the chasing pack caught him 5km short of the finish. "I'm really happy, the swim was excellent; I was 40secs faster than the leg record. I stayed with the leaders during the bike, but the run was very hard," said Boecherer, who will contest Ironman Canada in a fortnight. "I still finished faster than the previous course record," he added.

However, it wasn't all good news for the team. Captain Faris al Sultan, the defending champion, completed the Weisbaden-based half-triathlon's 1.9km swim, 90km cycle and 21.1km run sections in sixth place. "I didn't have any freshness to stand up against the field," said al Sultan. "I tried hard but I didn't want to take any risks with the world championships round the corner," he added. emegson@thenational.ae