VietNamNet Bridge – Matthieu Ginestet of France won first place in the stamina category at the annual Le Fruit Off-Road Triathlon on weekend, which saw more than 200 participants in six events from 19 countries this year.

Competing in the stamina category for people aged 16 and over, Ginestet took 2hr 36min to complete the triathlon, held at Ho Tram Beach in southern Viet Nam. The event included a 750m open water swim, a 40km mountain bike ride and a 10km off-road run.

Christian Schussmueller from Germany and Alex Holroyd–Smith of the UK placed second and third, respectively.

Tran Dinh Quan, 28, software engineer at FPT Company in HCM City, who participated in the stamina race for the first time, said: "I believe everybody here has a passion for outdoor sports. I'm here not to compete with others but to achieve one goal: to complete the race with all my effort, even if I don't win."

Quan finished in 3: 54, ranking 39th out of 43.

Severine Leroux of France won the women's stamina title with a time of two hours and 54 minutes, followed by Samantha Young of the US and Hannah Gruner of Germany.

The triathlon, in its 14th year, was held in the southern coastal province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau. All of the proceeds of the race will go toward relief efforts to rebuild the village of Taksindu Solukhumbu in Nepal.

The event included a swim in the East Sea, a bike ride toward the rainforest, and a run along the Ho Tram beach.

The competition has six categories, including two for children. The sprint (short) triathlon, for people of various ages, included a 300m open water swim, 20km mountain bike ride and 5km off-road run. Two events without swimming, a stamina duathlon and sprint duathlon, were open to people over the age of 16.

The mountain bike course featured different landscapes to test the mettle of the bikers, and the run on the beach, which covered a large kidney-shaped area between Sanctuary Resort and Ho Tram Resort, had a variety of sandy surfaces, from thick, soft and difficult sand to hard-packed sand.

VNS