Abu Dhabi Triathlon winner Rasmus Henning reveals secret to his success

04:24 04/12/2013
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  • Elite Male winner of the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon, Rasmus Henning, revealed an email from his wife helped spur him on to an emotional victory on the Abu Dhabi Corniche on Saturday.

    The Dane put an injury-plagued 18 months behind him as he reeled in home favourite Faris Al Sultan to snatch a 27-second win, smashing the course record in the process. Eneko Llanos, who won the ADIT in 2010, came in third.

    Henning admitted he feared he had given himself too much to do as he trailed Sultan by four minutes going into the run, and praised the work of his new coach Matt Dixon who helped him overcome cramping issues that have hampered his progress over the last year-and-a-half.

    The Dane said he had considered quitting the sport during that time, and it seems some kind words from wife, Anita, were all-important as he won in the capital. “Thanks a lot to Matt Dixon for relentlessly working on how to nail nutrition, and that cramping situation, it’s been a great help,” Henning said. “Also to my wife Anita, she wrote an email to me last night that I read this morning just explaining that she really believed in me and she was sure I could do it. That meant a great deal to me and I thought about that a lot out there today.”

    The Elite Female race was won by Abu Dhabi debutant Nikki Butterfield, as she set yet another course record to finish in 7:00:22, over 2min clear of Angela Naeth. Swiss athlete Caroline Steffen was more than four minutes behind the winner in third, while Melissa Rollison missed a place on the podium by just 31 seconds.

    Butterfield made her move at the end of the bike stage, admitting that her aim was to put as much distance between herself and Rollison. By the time she reached the finish line it was such that she was able to cross the tape with her 14-month-old daughter, Savana, in her arms.

    “I was pretty emotional,” Butterfield said. “Last year, it wasn’t everything to me, but you still want to get the best out of yourself on the day and I felt like I kept getting second and fourth. Fourth sucks because you’re not on the podium and second sucks because you didn’t win. So, I just kept saying I didn’t want to come second or fourth I wanted to win or come third at least.”

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