roth 2011 complete, another chance in december

eneko



one more chance at an entry in the race—the Nikolaus-Action set for 6 December

25.08.2010
Challenge Roth completely booked for 2011

All places for international athletes at the 2011 Challenge Roth have been taken, signalling the official end to entries for the 10th anniversary edition of the iconic race on 10 July 2011.


All places for individual competitors and teams have been taken, with athletes from 61 nations making the commitment to start—the largest international contingent in the race’s 10 years as the Challenge Roth. Start places for athletes from Great Britain have grown significantly, with more athletes coming from the UK than ever before—and entries from Australia have doubled to 50.

Athletes who have so far missed out have one more chance at an entry in the race—the Nikolaus-Action set for 6 December. At 10am (CEST), race organisers will open online entries for 200 entries for individual starters and another 50 places for teams that have been returned by tour organisers. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to local charities.

18.07.2010
Rasmus Henning makes golden Roth debut

Dane Rasmus Henning showed he’s a real force to contend with in long-course triathlon with a 7:52:36 debut at his first Challenge Roth in a time that tickled the course record and world’s best mark that has stood here since Luc van Lierde went 7:50:27 in 1997. Henning, a top Olympic-distance athlete who took fifth at the Ironman World Championships last year with a broken hand, was always going to be a favourite, and he showed his class with a quick and measured performance that left onlookers sure the world’s best time was in play until the last meters of the run.



But the day also heralded the arrival of a new German force in the long-course world with 26-year-old Sebastian Kienle also dipping under eight hours in his first ever long-course race, posting a 7:59:06 to take second and the German national title after leading for much of the day.



Sebastian Kienle finished second and cracked the bike course record

Kienle’s transition into long-distance racing has seen him earn wins at the half distance at Challenge Kraichgau and Ironman Germany 70.3, and he said after the race that he was quiet about his expectations publicly—but he had hoped for a very good long-course debut. He got his wish, surging to the front on the bike on the climb at Greding near the 140km mark. By the time he hit the transition area he’d cracked Thomas Hellriegel’s 1997 bike course record of 4:14:45 with a 4:14:07 and started on the run with four minutes in hand over veterans like Spain’s Eneko Llanos, Henning and last year’s second–place finisher, Aussie Pete Jacobs. But Henning, who said he entered the race really confident in his run, used patience and a relentlessly even pace to overhaul Kienle when he faded on the second half of the run.



Spaniard Eneko Llanos

But the Dane’s run training came through as soon as he hit T2: “In the run for the last two months every single session has been diamond legs,” he said. “Six-hour rides, where I've been just completely stuffed, I've gone out to do a brick run just after and my legs were just flying. That's exactly what happened today.” Those diamond legs carried him to a remarkable 2:39:43 marathon and past Kienle after some 30km of running.
The day was not kind to two of the race favourites, with both Stadler and Belgium’s Rutger Beke ending their days early. France’s Sylvain Rota captured the world’s firefighter championship with an overall ninth-place finish.

RESULTS
1) Rasmus Henning (DEN) (46:57/4:23:25/2:39:43) 7:52:362
2) Sebastian Kienle (GER) (52:15/4:14:07/2:50:17) 7:59:06
3) Eneko Llanos (ESP) (47:01/4:24:26/2:48:01) 8:02:33
4) Pete Jacobs (AUS) (46:51/4:25:42/2:53:43) 8:08:56
5) Michael Goehner (GER) (52:20/4:29:3/2:48:11) 8:13:09

.-.-.-.-.-.-.

18.07.2010
Chrissie Wellington dominates in record time

There aren’t words to describe the incredible performance of world-beating triathlete Chrissie Wellington at the Challenge Roth today as she smashed her own world best time of 8:31:59, set here last year, with an amazing 8:19:13 that was good enough for seventh place overall.

The ever-smiling Wellington was dominant from start to finish, exiting the water on the heels of early swim leader Tereza Macel (CZE) in 50:28 and quickly overcoming that to burn through the bike course and build a lead of nearly 22 minutes heading onto the run. She carried on at a similarly scorching run pace, ticking the kilometres over at a reported a 3:50/km at some stages to produce a 2:48:54 marathon.



The British star left her closest competition, top Aussie Rebekah Keat, more than half an hour in arrears at 8:52:10—and some of the world’s top men were left in her wake as well. With Keat second to Wellington for the second year in a row, Macel ran through for third in 9:09:29, setting a new personal best along the way.



Second Rebekah Keat at her finish.

“Chrissie was just...I don’t know,” said Keat, searching for words at the finish. “The boys have to look out for her now. I have to try to beat her but I don’t know what we can do.”
“It was really hard,” Keat said of her day. “I didn’t feel the heat but I just felt terrible on the bike and couldn’t get going. I felt good on the second lap but it was too late.”

From the dominance she’s shown in the triathlon world since bursting onto the scene with a win at the Ironman World Championships three years ago, it’s clear Wellington is in a class of her own. “I like to race myself, number one, but if there’s a guy there that I can catch, I will,” she said. “I don’t think they like it very much.”
She said she thinks it’s important for her to continue to show other women athletes what’s possible—and that there are really no limits: “We're narrowing the gap between the men and women, and that’s really important,” she said, adding that she hoped her performance would inspire other women to take up triathlon or challenge themselves with goals they might’ve thought impossible. “I never thought 8:19 was possible. Hopefully that's helped to promote triathlon and promote the growth of women in sport and that's something that I'm really proud to do.”



Tereza Macel from Czech Republic.

Macel conceded that with Wellington so far up the road, the bike ride saw her hitting some lonely patches on the first lap—but by the time the run came along the remaining women in the top five were battling: “It was an exciting way to race, but a tough way to race,” she said.
Australia’s Belinda Granger, winner here in 2005, took fourth in 9:15:25, with Roth’s own Dagmar Matthes capturing the German national title with a fifth place finish in 9:32:05, reclaiming the crown she took in 2008.
Granger said she enjoyed the new run course’s loop through the center of the old marketplace: “There were so many people there cheering, you can’t run slowly. You just want to run fast for them, I’m a little disappointed with fourth but it’s still better than last year. I’m happy and I feel OK now. I’ll rest up and in four weeks’ time I have to do it all over again in Copenhagen [at Challenge Copenhagen].”

RESULTS
1) Chrissie Wellington (GBR) (50:28/4:36:33/2:48:54) 8:19:13
2) Rebekah Keat (AUS) (52:14/4:56:44/3:00:06) 8:52:10
3) Tereza Macel (CZE) (50:18/4:58:46/3:16:56) 9:09:29
4) Belinda Granger (AUS) (52:18/4:56:46/3:23:18) 9:15:25
5) Dagmar Matthes (GER) (54:48/5:10:53/3:22:59) 9:32:05
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