Michael Booth is a small man with big muscles, an infectious smile, and a mop of blond hair piled in a floppy top knot: part Popeye, part Eveready Bunny, part stylish Samurai. Just one kilometer into the 23-kilometer Steelcase Dragon Run, the 22-year-old Ironman from Surfers Paradise glanced right -- all clear. To his left, nothing but brackish chop.
"Holy shit," he thought, pre-race nerves supplanted by an adrenaline rush. "I'm leading!"