Nice should only be the beginning
Four bamberg triathletes represented the french cote d'azur at ironman-70.3 world championship in nizza the domstadt. After joint preparations in the days before, the "bamberger reisegruppe" was ready for the race prepared for the competition.
The ladies kicked things off. On a beautiful day, the swimmers started in waves from 7 a.M. Onwards in the opening discipline. With anne kirsten, an athlete from DJK teutonia gaustadt had fulfilled her dream and started full of anticipation into the adventure. The measured water temperature allowed the women to wear the wetsuit, which not only protects the swimmers from getting cold, but also serves as a popular tool to complete the first discipline faster.
With her swim performance, kirsten had a solid start, even though she has been able to complete the two-kilometer course a good two minutes faster in the past. The middle part represented their parade discipline. She regularly achieves one of the best cycling times in her age group. The highly selective course was peppered with nearly 1500 meters of elevation, making it one of the toughest half-distance courses in the world. Especially in the downhill sections, he had to concentrate hard and use good technique to reach the second transition zone unscathed. Several athletes had to end the race prematurely due to defects and accidents. Kirsten chose a clever risk management and came with a good bike time and accident-free after 3:14:39 hours into the second transition zone. Under increasing heat the half marathon became a real challenge. The breathtaking view of the mediterranean sea and the enthusiastic spectators could only partially distract from the agony of the race. The finish compensated for the depriving months of preparation and was an unforgettable experience. The final time of 5:40:09 put her in the first quarter of the entire women's competition.
The following day the men set off on the same course. With matthias turk, daniel wolf and christian birke, three bamberger were able to meet the high qualification standards and were allowed to start the world championship adventure.
Almost in the top 100
Matthias turk of bohnlein sports bamberg was in top form, finishing the two-kilometer swim, the 92-kilometer bike course and the half marathon fastest in 4:30:11. After being in the lead in the opening discipline and well on the way to showing his strength, a collision with another athlete cost him valuable time and some places. With a spirited race, the man from bischberg fought his way back and celebrated his finish with a top 25 position in his age group at his world championship debut. Among all 3500 starters he only just missed a place among the best 100.
The 25-year-old is happy with his result after the competition. "I'm excited by this overwhelming world championship experience and I'm working towards even better results in the future", said the bischberger.
With daniel wolf the next "bohnleiner" lined up with the successful finishers. Due to a bike crash his preparation was very difficult in the last weeks. After he was able to perform in the first two disciplines, he had to pay tribute to his training deficit due to injury and could not keep up his good pace on the second half of the half marathon. In 4:52:55 hours, the 34-year-old was able to secure a place in the front midfield of his age group.
For christian birke of the DJK teutonia gaustadt, giving up was not an option. After breaking a spoke, he had to climb parts of the long climb on the bike course to fub until a mechanic ransomed him and made his bike roadworthy again. After the time-consuming incident, the teuton was no longer competitive, but rightly celebrated his world championship finish after a strong will performance. With a time of 5:01:28 hours, he crossed the finish line in the middle of his age group, despite all the adversity.
