Great video enjoyed it. Noted how many ppl using calf sleeves, man have go say Chelsea looked skinny, didn't realise the swim start was so shallow.

Hope u had an amazing day too.

Great video and congratulations with your sub-10! I raced on Sunday as well so I enjoyed seeing some footage from an agegroup perspective from the course. My race report is in Dutch so I'll spare you that one. I didn't have a great day, although the swim and the bike went pretty well. After 6h15m I started the run so a decent sub-10 was the least of my expectations but reality bit me in the behind and it took me 4 hours to finish the run. Even though the run was hell the Roth experience was great. Good luck with your next race and thanks for posting your video!

Great video, thanks for sharing. Somebody needs to send this video to Ironman for them to "get it"
- Make the events fun so that the community supports athletes, visitors, etc.
- Have a band with a "Party" afterwards
- Interesting to watch participants get a water bottle handoff from a spectator
- The people lining the climb is like the TDF
- It's not all about money and limiting events forIronman sponsored companies.
- Epic event that will have people waiting to sign up next year

Nice bit of self promotion, but sub 10 ain’t that hard especially at roth
I’m still pushing sub 10 at age 52 and 32 IM done most sub 10 (see what I did there 😂)

Roth is a super race though and IM need to step it up big time to go anywhere near it
Unfortunately that’s not gunna happen , the athlete experience is only getting worse at IM
Pity there is only 1 roth , shame they can’t replicate it across the world but slot of the “race” experience comes from the towns folk themselves
They love the race and the athletes , unlike most IM towns (Taupo is an exception) where most locals hate you for closeing down the roads and heaven forbid riding on them before hand

Nice report and congrats on the sub 10. It is a great race but the logistics can get to some athletes and clearly to spectators too. I told my family not to stress out about seeing me so after dropping me off at the swim start, I saw them only once on the whole course - at Solarer Berg and then at the finish. Great event though, I'd love to go back one day although I will get my money's worth on the course.

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My race site: https://racesandplaces.wixsite.com/racesandplaces

In fact, it is.

Roth does this, presumably for some kind of travel revenue bonus. And even if that wasn't the case, if Roth just wanted to make this a civic pride thing that they throw the best party for traveling triathletes, it would still depend on the town's and oeganizers budget.

Ironman needs to be sustainable across many years and the only way that's possible is people are making money. A lot of it. The number of events IM puts on exposes the company to such a massive amount of risk and liability, they really need to make money doing it.

That said, where I do agree is that the case should be made to Ironman that they need to figure out a way to make their events more festival like and getting locals excited to be involved and design courses that make it feasible for them to be involved. Roth is the pattern for them to show cities and say, "we want to do this with your community."

Ironman needs to do this because it adds a tremendous value to their events for everyone involved.

The issue is, IM is what, the largest sporting event company in the world? Their scale makes this so difficult to do. But I agree they should be willing to spend the money and effort to do this in order to keep their brand and product relevant in both local communities and aspiring triathletes alike.

All that said, what are the numbers? How many racers were at Roth? If the numbers are less than a typical Ironman in the region, I can't see Ironman feeling the pressure to measure up. That's the wrong way to look at it though, but it would have a point.

Over 3,000 including relay. I think in one of the prerace updates Felix mentioned that it sold out in 30 seconds and 20,000 or 30,000 were in line to sign up.

But of course it won't pressure IM. IM prioritizes maximizing profit while Felix prioritizes maximizing experience. The race makes enough to keep it profitable but they aren't cutting corners to pocket more money.


I raced this weekend and it blew every other race out of the water. Some IMs have been more scenic, but the atmosphere and athlete services at Roth put it in a completely different league. I was shocked how many people were still at Solar Hill making noise for the age groupers on the second lap.

I thought logistics without a car weren't great leading up to the race (I still wouldnt rent a car next time), but spectator logistics were great. Saw my wife 9 times, and she spectated on foot. Most people brought their bikes which would allow even more.
- race start in Hilpoltstein
- Solar Hill in Hilpoltstein
- again in Hilpoltstein after the shorter loop out east
- Solar Hill on second loop
- the bridge we crossed near Hilpoltstein in Haimpfarrich which is also right by the first run turnaround
- running south towards Haimpfarrich as she walked toward Roth to the bus stop near the run course "T" intersection
- again on the way north
- again on the way south after the northern turnaround, just north of the "T"
- finish

Wow!! I know I'm a weirdo who believes price is great signal in the market that helps moderate supply and demand and all that..... but Roth should umm... raise prices. If they want to stay true to their roots have a lottery to have a chance for the first 1000 slots and then, you know let the market decide.

Money and profit isn't evil and an organization can use those profits to further its mission. Especially if it's a good organization. There's all kinds of things they can do if they have 30k people wanting to sign up in 30 seconds besides just "charge more".

I mean... ummm... couldn't they they make Roth a qualified event that would even rival Kona? Would Kona have 30k signups in 30 minutes if they opened registration?

What does that mean?

Great video and great performance. Your bike is mega strong and given you swim infrequently your time was good. Work on the run and you’ll be half hour faster without problem.

Roth is just the best race out there. Didn’t race this year but I’ve been twice and the whole experience is truly mind blowing. Yes, logistically it can be difficult, especially if you’ve not been before, but you just need to understand how it all works and have a plan.

Well done.

Harshest and most unnecessary comment ever. Speak for yourself, but on stats alone sub 10 is not achievable by the great majority of those who sign up to do IM.

FFS, you want them to solve a non-existent problem and ruin it for most of us in the process.

Right now if you really want to race Roth, you can. Just be on time and be prepared. 30 seconds is not too little time to fill in a small online form. Apparently most of the 30k who try do so too late. Nothing is stopping them from logging in at 10:00:00. Perhaps it's the fact that you have to win the race for registration that makes the event so special. Everybody who's at Roth has had to put a little effort and attention to detail into geting on the start list.

Felix and crew know their business and if they could make a lot more money from entry fees, maybe they would. Or maybe they know their shit. The expo is a good example. The reason it's so big is that Roth doesn't grant its sponsors exclusivity in the expo. This means that sponsors are less happy but Felix makes more money from expo fees and, most importantly, makes an impression on the athletes and fans. Pat Lemieux goes back to the States and tells ProTriNews podcast listeners that Roth's expo is bigger than the entire Kona race village (complete with transition areas, etc.). That, among other things, is how you sell out an event.

My take: if they upped the fees to, say, EUR 1000 from the current EUR 679, it would be a wholly different event. They would risk not selling out (big impact on their reputation) and the PR backlash would be a massive drag on their reputation.

As for making it a championship event subject to qualification: no, no and once again no.

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

OP made a nice video showcasing his experience.

You commented showing that you're a douche, is that what you were aiming for?

Nice video Dan and great result. Well done on the sub 4.30 at Outlaw as well.

Looks like there was a real buzz with expectations of record breaking. Roth was my last long course event in 2011 when Chrissie set the previous women's record. Managed a selfie with her and still have it as a drinks coaster.

Somewhere along the line triathlon got too serious. Probably when numerous national federations stopped men being able to wear Speedos.

Dude, great video and wonderful result!
Thank you for posting this.
Your spouse did a great job chasing you around :)

Enjoyed the video.
Congrats on the sun 10. Hopefully one day, I can say the same.

Fun to watch….thanks for sharing!

Agreed


I am guessing this is the guy in Boulder area with the '9HR IM' license plate

And yet, we wonder why participation is declining in triathlon (as a whole).

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IG: NCGregory8778

That is a great video! Many thanks for posting it. Amazing how you were able to get the different Roth viewpoints in there from the athlete perspective, support perspective, spectator perspective. Appreciated your positivity but also the honesty of it all in the moment. Also, the kindness between you and your wife was just awesome. :) Thanks again!

5000 participants,maybe 3k for whole distance, rest relay?

Hahaha whaddadoosh😄👍

A very nice video and a great race performance!

BTW, I'm a Roth local and yes, we do love the race weekend and are happy to host the athletes.

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I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain.

There are a lot of comments about Ironman and what is missing in the Ironman brand in this thread. But I think its important to recognise that Roth is such an amazing experience because its embraced by the local community.

Contrast that to Kona where the community look to maximise the money they can extract from athletes and generally don't like the race or athletes being there. Its chalk and cheese - and its the local communities that make the difference and dictate what kind of experience the athletes have, not necessarily the brands that run the events. Roth is the exception not the rule, and the residents there make it the experience it has become famous for.

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He who understands the WHY, will understand the HOW.