Butterfield 10th in 'horrendous conditions' in Australia (Update 1)

Tyler Butterfield finished 10^th in brutal conditions in the Asia-Pacific Championship Melbourne in Australia on Saturday.

Eneko Llanos of Spain won the event in seven hours, 36 minutes and seven seconds. Butterfield finished the grueling event in 8:02:05, less than four minutes out of sixth place.

Butterfield came out of the water in 25^th place with a time of 21:45. Horrendous conditions greeted competitors for the swim, which was reduced to half the distance (1.9km) as swimmers battled 1.5 m swells.

Butterfield had the sixth fastest bike time in 4:31:59 which put him in sixth place after the second transition. The competitors faced headwinds that gusted up to 30 knots.

He completed the run in 4:04:41.

He told the Bermuda Sun: "I tried to mix it up with the big boys and got caught up on the first lap of the bike, but blew up on the second, then had to run steady on pace."

Butterfield said he tried to run a three hour marathon after a hard bike ride and was happy to be just four minutes off.

"I was trying to represent Bermuda well. Not my best day, but have to be happy with 10th.

His wife Nikki did not compete due to a leg injury that has not completely healed.

Marino Vanhoenaker (BEL) 7:38.58

Craig Alexander (AUS) 7:39.36

Jordan Rapp (USA) 7:50.53

Chris Legh (AUS) 7:52.28

Per Bittner (GER) 7:58.27

Jimmy Johnsen (AUS) 7:59.36

Jeremy Jurkiewicz (FRA) 8:00.49

Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 8:01.08

Tyler Butterfield (USA) 8:02.05.