South African athlete James Cunnama won the IRONMAN 70.3 Vietnam, an international triathlon held in the central coastal city of Da Nang on May 10.

South African athlete James Cunnama.

He finished the 113 kilometre race in 3 hours, 51 minutes and 29 seconds.

The competitors began with a 1.9 kilometre ocean swim off the beautiful Hyatt Regency Da Nang Resort and Spa in the morning.

They later raced over a scenic two-loop 90 kilometre bike course, starting from the resort on Truong Sa Street and winding through Vo Nguyen Giap, Hoang Sa, Le Duc Tho and Thuan Phuoc bridge and further to Nguyen Tat Thanh and back.

The final 21 kilometre run also started from the Hyatt Regency and passed through Truong Sa, Vo Nguyen Giap and Hoang Sa and back.

The athletes took around eight hours to finish the muscle sport race in the hot tropical weather of the central city.

The race, with over 1,000 athletes from 54 countries taking part, offered a total 15,000 USD in prize money.

Vietnam is the 30 th country in the world and the eighth Asia-Pacific country to host an Ironman triathlon.

Some photos of the competition:

VNA/Zing