Quelle Challenge Roth - TriathlonFull Ironman

Starting in waves was a nice way to avoid the crowds. Got bumped a few times, but all in all a pretty friendly affair. My swim ranked 52 out of 304 in the Men's realy catagory. The relay Team (#1) I was swimming for eventually finish in 8th place (out of 304) due in large part to our biker, Mark, who crushed a 4:40 bike split. The ambiance for the swim was great - lots of spectators on the bridges and along the canal - this is despite the early start times and brutal weather (50F + heavy rain).

Considering that I was working off limited sleep for that past month, I was pleased to swim a 0:57. Looking to do sub 1 hr for the 4k swim at the ITU 3XO Worlds in late Aug in Holland.

I was racing in two different relays. I entered T1 and handed off my chip to Mark (our biker) and then had to find my bike and get ready before the swimmer (Stephane) for relay #2 arrived.

Not much.

As I exited T1 it was pouring rain and pretty cold. I put on a wind breaker (aka parachute) in an effort to keep warm. About 10km into the bike I was wetter than I was when I was swimming in the Canal! Then the really heavy rain came down!? As the course opened onto the flats we had the pleasure of a nice head wind (+ rain). A little while longer, we had the joy of hail!! Interesting conditions to say the least. The rain finally stopped as I started my second loop, so I took off my rain parachute and enjoyed the second loop much more.

As the relayers were last to leave the crowds started to thin out as we biked. However, despite the rain there was still great support from the local community. The Solar Berg was pretty cool - a steep hill packed with people who only got out of the way at the last second (think TDF mountain stages).

The relay team (#2) I was biking for eventually finish in 92th place out of 304. My bike split was 234/304 - more work need here. If I had biked a 5:40 I would have been right in the middle of the pack.

Need to work on developing more power. The course had some hills, and in the run up to the race I was focusing on getting in some volume. So, I am pleased (not proud) with 6 hours. That being said, with some good interval work I would like to get into the 5h30s.

handed my chip off to my runner (who ran a 2:53). Relay Team #2 raced a 9:55 ironman.

Walked about 20 minutes in the pouring rain to find the showers. Interesting cultural footnote, the showers were co-ed. Anyway, took a shower, dried off and then went back out it the rain to cheers the rest of the finishers from the CNN Tri Nyon Team.


The highlights of the race were traveling with the family and participating as part of a larger team. The CNN Tri Nyon Team had a number of strong sub-11 hour finishes. A number of teammates did their first IM. And there were a number of family relays, where parents and the children raced different parts of the relay.

Funny story - When the first relay team signed-up (the 8:40 team) the application was in German and we just checked a bunch of boxes. Not too sure what they meant. At the end of the race, we heard our names called over the loud speaker. We made our way to the front of the stands near the finish and learn that we won 1st place, but for what we were not sure. Then we figured out that we took first place out of 52 teams in the 'Corporate Catagory'. Nice :)

Final Footnote: While we were picking up the bikes that evening at T2 I somehow managed to bump into a fellow BT'er - Drew. It was great to meet him and exchange a few words. He raced a great IM.