Posted: May 15, 2004

Triathlon: Van Lierde and MacFadyen Withdraw from Ironman Lanzarote

Luc Van Lierde and Garett MacFadyen have had to cancel their participation in Ironman Lanzarote - "The toughest Ironman triathlon in the world" - due to injury.

Canadian MacFadyen has been bothered by a running injury for the past 3 weeks, which has cut into his running training, and running a marathon he is afraid would worsen it. "This has been a hard decision for me to come to in the last couple of days because Lanzarote has been a course I have wanted to do for the last couple of years, but one I think is the best" said Garrett.

As to Van Lierde, he was highly recommended by his medical doctor to rest immediately for a period of at least three weeks, due to an injury in his hip. "I feel considerably sorry, not only because I have been willing to race the Ironman Lanzarote now for many years and thought this was going to be the right one! I am also so sorry for the organization, i.e. for Club La Santa who has always been supporting and helping me, and I hoped to somehow give them something back by racing here... "

The event takes place May 22, 2004.

Online coverage on race day will be available from: www.ironmanlive.com.

The race website is at: www.ironmanlanzarote.com.