05 / 22 / 2011

Ironman 70.3 Austria - St. Poelten

6^th place age group 18-24 - missed the World Championship slot for Las Vegas by only 12 seconds

Although the Ironman 70.3 already started at 7:00 am (wave starts) and ended for most at noon, the race got a battle against heat. About 30 degrees and a shadow-free race track made almost all triathletes 2400 sweat heavily. That was the main reason why the winning time was 10 minutes slower than last year.

It was my first start at an Ironman 70.3. I was well prepared and I raced very conservative. During the final half marathon I ran a very constant pace. I was never in danger to drop out although it got quite hot (1^st time this year).

Swimming was ok. During the bike (90k), I could have given a little more. The crash shortly after the transition area I didn't mind.

In the end, I reached 6^th place - and missed by 12 seconds a slot for Ironman World Championship 70.3 in Las Vegas. In my agegroup Francesco Cauze from Italy won followed by a Czech and a Romanian. Place 3 - 6 were all within a few seconds. My time was 4:33:11.

In the professionals race, due to a brilliant performance on the bike, Austrian Michael Weiss lead for a long time. Just before the finish he was caught by the previous winner Filip Ospaly from the Czech Republic. Only 12^th place was the second best Austrians. Karin Thuerig won the women from Switzerland.

The Ironman 70.3 Austria St. Poelten is one of the largest triathlon competitions in the world. Triathletes came from all continents.

Next year I'll be back.

My next competition:
06/25/2011  Crossman Austria in Voelkermarkt

05 / 14 / 2011

MTB Marathon "WeinSteinBike" - Muehldorf / Wachau / Austria
Broken shifting - I did not finish the race

After some years I was back racing the Austrian "Top Six" mountainbike marathon series.

This competition is one of the most challenging mountain bike competitions in Austria. I chose the 37k with over 1,700 vertical meters. On this distance were about 300 starters. Overall, on all three distances (64, 37 and 20k) over 500 bikers were participating.

There was also a sprint competition for all distances on the course, which was organized by my sponsor "Schuberth Hagebau".

Short after the start I noticed a technical problem on my normally very reliable "Duratec" mountain bike. So I lost rather early connection to the front pack. After the uphill sprint section - a bit more than halfway of the competition - I realized that it makes no sense to continue and gave up.

Some top bikers on the 64k distance got technical problems, too. The favourite Christoph Soukup (14-time Austrian champion MTB on 2x Olympian) gave up because of technical defects in. The race was won by Martin Kellermann, Jakob Nimpf 2^nd had led for a long time.

My next event:
05/22/2011  Ironman 70.3 St. Poelten / Austria

04 / 25 / 2011

Easter Run Melk / Austria - 10k

1^st place went to Germany - no top-rank this time

After a hard "Easter-Training-Week" with focusing on my biking (500k) and swimming (20k), the Melker Easter Run on Easter Monday was on my schedule.

Weather was perfect and a great atmosphere was along the course. Many runners took part in different distances and in the relay race. The Melker Easter Run is the home race of my head sponsor Hagebau Schuberth, who was also represented with four relay teams.

Times are over where no top athletes participating local running events. The win in the 10k competition went to the German Thomas Hackl, who won last year, too. Another elite runner was Max Wenisch (51), he was one of the best long distance runners from Austria
(4 times Austrian marathon champion, 6 times best Austrian at the Vienna City Marathon) finished as second. Till k4, we ran together.

The 5 km competition went to one of Austria's best mountain runners, Thomas Heigl, who finished at the Vienna New Year's Run in 2010 as second.

My father was also running. He ran the 10k distance in 52:30, which is quite good for him.

My next events:
05/14/2011  Mountain Bike Marathon Muehldorf / Wachau / Austria
05/22/2011  Ironman 70.3 St. Poelten / Austria

04 / 17 / 2011

Vienna City Marathon 2011 with over 32,000 participants
At the same time the largest relay marathon in the world

3^rd place in the relay - Denmark takes the win

Ideal running conditions, almost a new record of participants and a great atmosphere marked the 28th Vienna City Marathon.

I started in the relay for the full marathon distance with Andreas Vojta, Thomas Thalhammer and Christoph Mrkvicka. My section was the third from the Vienna University to the Prater - 9.1k.

Our start-runner Andi Vojta was able to keep the pace for the first 2k with the Ethiopian two-time Olympic champ Haile Gebrselassie, who was running the half marathon in Vienna and won superior. Our team was very strong, which is coached by the famous trainer Willy Lilge. On this day the strong Danish team was unbeatable. Second place went to the Forever Power Team from Vorarlberg / Austria.

The 42,195 k in the men's race was marked by the Kenyans. Rank 1 - 8 went to Kenya. Best Austrian Roman Weger ran 2:18:24. In the women's race Fate Tola from Ethiopia was the fastest.

My next competition:
04/25/2011  Easter Run 10k - Melk / Austria

03 / 13 / 2011

International Kamptal-Classic-Trophy
One of the biggest MTB - XCO UCI competitions in Austria

Unfortunately no top result

After two years of triathlon I took part in mountain bike cross country race on a tough UCI standard course, so a top result wasn't expected. The course in Langenlois with its steep climbs was extremely challenging. The Kamptal-Classic-Trophy was characterized by foreigners, especially from our northern neighbors. In the amateurs class, where I started, Czechs ranked 1-4. I finished 22^nd.

In the Pro-Categorie the Czech Jaroslav Kulhavy won. The Tyrolean Karl Markt and another Czech rider completed the podium. Further ranks went to strong Austrians Uwe Hohenwarter, Christoph Soukup, Alban Lakata and Hannes Metzler.

However, it was fun to see many of my old mountain bike fellows again.

With more MTB Training (for the XTERRA competitions in June) I will be back in the front pack.

My next competition:
4/17/2011  Relay-Marathon VCM - Vienna with team2012.at