Dubai: Day three and four of Scott Ragsdale’s Ironman Naseba-Seven challenge saw the traithlete lose steam and clock his slowest times yet.
Midway through his challenge across the seven Emirates, he clocked 13 hours and 22 minutes in Umm Al Quwain on Saturday and 13 hours 44 minutes in Ajman Sunday.
“I was on track to beat RAK on Saturday but ran out of gas the last 10km as my leg became sore,” Ragsdale told Gulf News. “I had to walk the last 10km and it took me two hours but I still finished with a respectable time.”
During day four of the Naseba-Seven challenge through Ajman, Coach Mario Huys put Ragsdale on a recovery Ironman pace which saw him go at the 14-hour pace.
Rough
“The swim was rough in Ajman because the water was rough” he said. “Riding my bike through Ajman was hard also because of traffic and condition of the roads; I was very worried I’d crash a few times when I hit pot holes.”
The Ironman Triathlon is organised by the World Triathlon Corporation and consists of a 3.86km swim, 180.25km of cycling and a 42.195km marathon run. The rules state the challenge must be completed without a break within a time limit of 17 hours. Ragsdale's aim is to complete his naseba-seven challenge across each emirate in 14 hours or less.
To recover from the day’s challenge, Sunday night Ragsdale received infrared repulse physiotherapy treatment and acupuncture to relieve him from pain in his legs; which have been affecting his ability to run on the last few days of the challenge.
In the past 11-and-a-half months of training, Ragsdale has swam, cycled and run a total of 15,811km as per his teams calculations. In reality this distance is greater than that between his home in Dubai and his native home town of Omaha, Nebraska in the US, which is 12,049km.
Naseba – Seven Day Three times:
Swim: 54 minutes
Transition: 10 minutes
Bike: 6 hours 2 minutes
Transition: 10 minutes
Run: 6 hours 6 minutes
Naseba – Seven day four times:
Swim: 1 hour 3 minutes
Transition: 10 minutes
Bike: 6 hours 44 minutes
Transition: 17 minutes
Run: 5 hours 30 minutes
Where you can spot Scott Ragsdale:
In Sharjah Monday
In Dubai Tuesday
In Abu Dhabi on November 30
