HAWI, Hawaii – Alexandre Ribeiro and Shanna Armstrong parlayed near-record bike legs to take second day leads at the 24th Ultraman World Championship Saturday in Hawaii.

Two-time Ultraman Hawaii champion Ribeiro of Brazil emerged from a four-man bike breakaway on a 3,000-foot climb to Waimea to seize the overall lead on the second day of the 320-mile, three-day, stage race triathlon that circumnavigates the Big Island of Hawaii on the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Ribeiro's 7:20:41 split on the 171.4-mile second day course from Volcanoes National Monument through Hilo and over the Kohala Mountains to Hawi was the second-fastest time ever for the Ultraman Hawaii second day bike – just 28 seconds shy of 2000 winner Uros Velepec's stage record.

Buoyed by a dry ride from the rain forest of Volcanoes, mild temperatures through Hilo, and a tailwind up the 3,564-foot climb to Waimea and over the Kohalas, Ribeiro, three-time Ultraman runner-up Tony O'Keefe, 1997 winner Peter Kotland and up-and-coming 2007 Ultraman 7th-place finisher Josef Ajram of Spain teamed up on a high speed assault on the race.

Once the first serious climb of the day started, first day leader O'Keefe was the first to fall back. Then Ajram, a 30-year-old stockbroker who finished 24th of 800 entries in this year's six day Marathon des Sables, and who set the fastest first day bike split here at Ultraman, also fell off the torrid pace set by Ribeiro and Kotland. Just two miles into the first climb, Ribeiro took the lead, which grew from 15 to 30 to 45 seconds and then 2 minutes by Waimea. After climbing the spine of the windswept Kohalas like a mountain goat, Ribeiro charged the steep downhill into the finish like Formula 1 countryman Ayrton Senna and arrived in Hawi with an 8 minute 46 second advantage on the day over Kotland's ride. Ajram arrived 2 minutes 24 seconds later, with O'Keefe another 4 minutes 37 seconds back with the fourth fastest split of the day.

With the ominous double marathon from Hawi to Kailua-Kona looming on the final day, Ribeiro holds a 10 minute 50 second lead over O’Keefe, and a 31 minute 22 second margin over the dangerous Peter Kotland, who ran an astounding 5:33:57 double marathon to win the 1997 event. Ajram, an enthusiastic newcomer to the Ultraman world, lies 4th, just 65 seconds back of Kotland, with Slovenia’s Miro Kregar another 14 minutes 35 seconds back of Ajram in 5th. Erik Seedhouse, the 1996 winner and the only other man to break 6 hours on the Ultraman Hawaii double marathon, raced an undistinguished 7th-best 8:15:58 bike to hold 6th overall, one hour behind Ribeiro. Kotland, who is returning to Ultraman after an 11-year absence, seemed cool and calm facing his 31-minute deficit to the obviously on-form Ribeiro. "You obviously go as hard as you can, but I didn’t want to go over my anaerobic threshold (162 HR), or it would take all of the starch out of my legs for tomorrow," said Kotland, who estimated he might run as fast as 5:45 and felt he could guarantee a sub 6-hour effort if all goes well. If so, Ribeiro has his work cut out for him, since his Ultraman PR run is 6:38:50 finishing second last year to three-time Ultraman champion Jonas Colting of Sweden. "I have been training hard for this race and I think I can run faster," said Ribeiro. "But my strategy will be to stay behind the good runners – Peter Kotland, Tony O’Keefe (6:34:07 best at the 2004 Ultraman) Miro Kregar (6:27:58 PR last year) and Erik Seedhouse (5:57:36 PR in 1996) and see how things are going before I make a move."

Sunday's finale will answer several questions: Can Kotland at age 36 come close to his miracle run of 1997? Has Ribeiro’s fitness increased at age 43 to shut the door on a resurgent Kotland? Can Tony O’Keefe summon another PR run to take another runner-up Ultraman finish at age 47? Has Josef Ajram come of age at 30 to summon a 6:30 run it would take to make the podium? Can Erik Seedhouse overcome his slow bike split – a result of a 9-year hiatus from two-wheel training – with a back-to-the-future sub 6-hour run to make a charge at the win? Or, on the order of miracles, could Alexandre Ribeiro summon a 6:07 run to break Holger Spiegel’s 1998 course record? Could Peter Kotland conjure up a 5:36 run to do the same?

In the women’s race, four-time Ultraman winner and 2006 RAAM solo champion Shanna Armstrong of Lubbock, Texas rode a blazing 8:59:36 for the 171.4 mile bike leg – just 4 minutes and 7 seconds slower than Monica Fernandes' 2000 split record. Combined with her 9:08:14 first day total, Armstrong’s two-day total of 18:07:50 gives her a 3 hour 14 minute 5 second lead over Puerto Rico Suzy Degazon going into the final day. Ultraman rookie Katie Poulson lies just 11 minutes 17 seconds behind the 11-year Ultraman veteran Degazon, who cannot lose focus on the anvil-hot Queen K tomorrow.

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In typical Ultraman fashion, the slings and arrows of outrageous aerobic calamities hit the race again this year, albeit in moderate fashion. On day one, Australian Kelly Duhig was hit by jellyfish stings and withdrew to seek treatment at a Kona hospital. Also hit, for the second time, was Suzy Degazon, who continued through the pain to finish Day One and Two in line for her fifth runner-up Ultraman finish. In a not unusual first-timer’s confusion, Brazilian Beto Lopes Dias missed a turnoff after 50 miles and inadvertently cut off 9.1 miles of the bike course. In a forgiving but fair judgment call, race director Jane Bockus calculated the 9-miles at the slowest estimated rate of 12 miles per hour and doubled that. So, Lopes Dias remains in 17th place of 33 remaining contenders.

24th Ultraman World Championship
The Big Island, Hawaii
November 28-30, 2008
S 6.2 mi./ B 90 mi./ B 171.4 mi./ R 52.4 mi.

Results through Day Two

Men

1. Alexandre Ribeiro (BRA) Swim 3:12:00 (7) Bike 5:01:25 (2) Bike 7:20:41 (1) 15:34:06
2. Tony O'Keefe (CAN) Swim 3:04:06 (6) Bike 5:04:20 (3) Bike 7:36:28 (4) 15:44:56
3. Peter Kotland (CZE) Swim 3:19:58 (12) Bike 5:18:03 (4) Bike 7:29:27 (2) 16:05:28
4. Josef Ajram (ESP) Swim 3:35:03 (16) Bike 5:00:00 (1) Bike 7:31:51 (3) 16:06:33
5. Miro Kregar (SLO) Swim 3:15:08 (16) Bike 5:22:27 (7 Bike 7:43:33 (5) 16:21:08
6. Erik Seedhouse (GBR) Swim 2:55:53 (3) Bike 5:21:18 (6) Bike 8:15:58 (7) 16:33:09
7. Scott Gower (USA) Swim 3:03:39 (5) Bike 5:34:55 (9) Bike 8:21:08 (8) 16:59:42
8. Gary Wang (USA) Swim 4:01:18 (23) Bike 5:21:05 (5) Bike 8:09:32 (6) 17:31:55
9. Richard Roll (USA) Swim 2:41:28 (2) Bike 5:36:37 (12) Bike 8:55:05 (13) 17:33:10
10. Carlos Conceicao (BRA) Swim 3:29:27 (14) Bike 5:34:53(8) Bike 8:36:29 (9) 17:40:49

Women

1. Shanna Armstrong (USA) Swim 3:02:44 (4) Bike 6:05:30 (15) Bike 8:59:36 (14) 18:07:50
2. Suzy Degazon (USA) Swim 4:59:08 (32) Bike 6:25:44 (19) Bike 9:57:33 (20) 21:21:55
3. Katie Paulson (USA) Swim 4:37:33 (29) Bike 6:52:20 (23) Bike 10:03:19 (24) 213:12
DNF Leslie Holton (USA) Swim 5:46:58 (37) Bike DNF Participant Bike 10:47:46