OCEANSIDE, Calif.-Rutger Beke (Belgium) and Craig Alexander (Australia) will compete in the 2004 Ralphs California Half Ironman, set to take place on Saturday, April 3 in Oceanside and on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

Beke is one of the top young talents on the Ironman circuit. The 26-year-old surprised many by finishing second at the 2003 Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, finishing with a strong overall time of eight hours, 28 minutes and 27 seconds. Beke also finished third at Ironman Florida in 2002 and was second at the Ralphs California Half Ironman in 2003.

Alexander is a standout at the Half-Ironman distance, posting eight half-Ironman distance wins in his career, including winning the St. Croix Half-Ironman in 2003. The 30-year-old Australian was also second at the Ralphs California Half Ironman in 2002.

Three U.S. female standouts have added their names to an already impressive list of women set to compete in the 2004 Ralphs California Half Ironman set to take place on Saturday, April 3. Nicole DeBoom (Lyons, Colo.), Gina Kehr (Redwood City, Calif.) and Monica Caplan (Boulder, Colo.) will join the impressive women's field, which already features four athletes who have won Ironman titles.

DeBoom was third at the Ralphs California Half Ironman event in 2003, finishing behind champion Heather Fuhr (Canada and Andrea Fisher (Austin, Texas) both of whom will compete in the Oceanside event. The 32-year-old has posted a pair of top-five finishes in her Ironman career, and has three top-15 finishes at the Ironman World Championship held annually in Kona, Hawaii.     Competing in the first Ironman distance event of her career in 2000, DeBoom took third place at Ironman California. The 32-year-old returned to finish fifth in 2001 at the same event. Nicole is also the wife of two-time Ironman World Champion Tim DeBoom.

Kehr has finished in the top 10 at the Ironman World Championship three times in her career, including a career best seventh-place finish in the 2003 event. She also posted top 10 finishes at the Kona, Hawaii event in 2000 and 2001. The 34-year-old Kehr finished second at Ironman France in 2002 and was second at Ironman USA Lake Placid in 2003. Kehr was crowned the U.S. Ironman National Champion for her efforts in Lake Placid as the top overall female finisher from the United States.

Caplan is one of a number of up-and-coming women from the United States competing at the Ironman-distance. 2003 was a breakout year for the 27-year-old as she placed second at the Utah Half-Ironman (behind veteran Ironman standout Lisa Bentley) and was third at Ironman USA Coeur d'Alene in June of 2003, the first Ironman event of her career.

The trio join defending champion Heather Fuhr (Canada), 2003 runner-up Andrea Fisher (Austin, Texas) and Ironman standouts Ute Mueckel (Germany), Heather Gollnick (Hartford, Wisc.) and Melissa Spooner (Canada) in what is shaping up to be a very strong women's field.

The Ralphs California Half Ironman triathlon takes place for the third time in Oceanside and on neighboring Camp Pendleton. More than 2,000 athletes from around the world are expected to compete. Athletes will be competing for 20 qualifying spots to the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, as well as a $25,000 pro prize purse. For more information on the Ralphs California Half Ironman, log onto www.ironmancalifornia.com.