I observed the race updates, participants, and results of IM Roth and IM Germany.
__Roth Positives: The crowds were great . It seems that the participants at Roth were Gung Ho and hungry to race. They raced faster and were all prepared, except Lothar Leider who was racing ill prepared due to a previous injury. Macca and Leider headline the race and Macca and Al Sutan both go under the magical 8 hour barrier. The Mohammed Ali of triathlon competitors in the sport now, kicking butt. That makes for great promotion.
__IM Germany Positives: The race started off with 8 of the top 10 finishers at Kona 2003. It was branded with the IM official stamp.
__Thoughts: Roth won this battle hands down. It seems that some of the guys at IM Germany showed up just to show up. Rutger Beke was never a factor, Stadler dropped out after 1 km of the swim. Reid did his usual Germany marathon shuffle. Holzner wins again. Not to take anything away from Stefan Holzner, but he is not quite the attraction of a Macca.
__I am happy to see that a race like Roth can trump the WTC, even after the WTC throws the big guns at them and chooses to race the same month as Roth.
__However - Nina Kraft crafted a great race at IM Germany and went sub-9.
__What do you think?
Go Roth Go!! I want more sub-8’s !!
I am not knocking Stefan Holzner. He did a great job at IM Germany. But what was more excititing, and fun the 2003 Roth finish, or Holzner hanging on? What would you rather see, people breaking 8 or a lot of the big names dropping out of the swim early or being non factors.
Holzner is good but he is not on the level of Macca. Who do you think would be crowned the best German, the German who won Roth or IM Germany. I would venture to say it would be the German who won Roth, but I have been known to be wrong, rarely ;-). I do not think anyone will say, Uh Oh, we better watch out for Holzner in Hawaii. But he still won IM Germany. I am just saying that it is good to see Roth put up a quality, fast field, and out perform the WTC’s version of Roth(IM Germany).
Holzner is racing Canada w/you in a month or so. He said he only has bad memories of Kona, so he won’t be there. Personally, I’d like to see him at Kona. The more strong bikers out there, the better, says I.
I was checking out the Roth race as well this year as I’m seriously considering doing it next year.
Francois,
You know more German Pro Triathletes than me. This is not an attack on Holzner. From an American, looking at doing either Roth or IM Germany, guess which one looks more appealing. I could say I was in the race where the world record was broken, when so and so went 7:49 at Roth, or I could say I did IM Germany. Which one has more appeal? That is the point of the post. Roth has the tradition and the “seemingly” love of the Germans. It seems that IM Germany only has the influence and love of the WTC.
As for Holzner not doing Hawaii, that is kinda sad, but ALL top IM triathletes are judged by how they do on the BIG Island. He can have valid reasons for not racing there, but that is the way it is.
"Holzner is racing Canada w/you in a month or so. He said he only has bad memories of Kona, so he won’t be there. Personally, I’d like to see him at Kona. The more strong bikers out there, the better, says "
Interesting to hear Stfan Holzner say that. Strange that, arguably one of the top 10 IM distance athletes in the World has chosen NOT to go to IMH, the “World Championship”. I see this starting to happen more and more. It’s an intriguing trend - top athletes racing 2 - 3 of the IM races around the world, winning or doing very well and then choosing not to go to IMH.
Does this not take a bit of the shine off IMH?
What do people think?
I like Normann, but that’s two races he’s dropped out of this year.
That and I sent him an email a while back and don’t get an answer. 3 months later he replies with this longgggggggggg email and tells me he’ll send me some signed photos if I give him my address. 2 months later and still no photos =(
Gee John… now you’re being inconsiderate. If the guy didn’t answer you might have a point, albeit a small one, but the guy actually wrote you and you complain it was a long reply?!
nah i’m just joking around. it was a nice surprise to see a reply, but i never really expected him to send me any photos
crosses fingers the photos got lost in the mail and will be here tommorow
Followed both races by reading the live ticker. Both races were exciting because you had guys hammer to the front. To each their own, but I favor the attack-orientated triathlete over the tactical sit-back-and wait-for-the-run guy. Sure, sometimes they go out too hard and blow during the run, but sometimes it works. Like it did for Stefan Holzner but didn’t for Faris Al-Sultan at Roth.
I do however pick Roth over Franfurt. You had more guys that showed up ready. Although I am American, I don’t like the style of DeBoom or Reid. On the ticker, after Deboom exits the swim at the same time as all the top Germans, he mutters, it’s the wetsuits!!! Excuse me but what the F@#%$k is Tim DeBoom wearing, a drag suit? No. He justs swims a tactical race just marking his competitors. Does Faris or say Niedrig have a more extensive swim background than DeBoom (an all-american swimmer in College). No. They just don’t go into the swim to mark anyone. They swim their asses off and go to the front. Or Reid saying he is only 80-90%prepared. What, he can only peak once a year? As far as Stadler, I don’t know what caused his swim DNF. He’s done that before, I believe at Roth a couple years ago.
Yes, Roth won hands down. You don’t see Macca showing up saying it’s just a hard training day. Ever.
Francois
Good points?
So the shine is possibly coming off IMH?
I agree, why would you go if:
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You were a real up-and-comer like Beke last year and dispite outstanding credentials everwhere else but Hawaii, you get no coverage. For many of these athletes more coverage = more $$$
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You are on form to finish anything lower than 6th or 7th or worse, then the trip becomes a money looser.
Strange, but one would think that the WTC would want to make it as easy as possible for truely the top 50 or so men/women long distance triathletes in the world to toe the line in October.
“Tissink, McFayden, Holzner, Riesen, Shortis, Legh” . . . .
It’s certainly an interesting trend and one that I hope someone is watching. I mean, IMH is truly a great race, with a tremendous legacy and of significant historical importance in the sport of triathlon, but if a roster of athletes of this quality, is choosing to NOT race there, in the the so called “World Championship”, what does that mean?
Some ideas:
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I like your idea of an automatic no charge invite to winners of other IM races to IMH. Makes perfect sense.
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Move the “World Championship” around to other IM venues.
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The purse at IMH is substantial, but it is extraordinarily top heavy - Even a more equitable distribution of the current money would be better.
To ensure that all of the top athletes are there they should be spending some cash on appearance fees for the athletes. If your flight, accomodation and entry are covered and you are given $1000 -$2000 then it becomes a much more desirable destination and ensures that everyone (or most anyway) who has a shot at winning will come. If this were the case and the prize purse for the winners were decreased somewhat then it would never be a money losing venture for the top athletes. The fact that so many things can go wrong on race day (Tim DeBoom went from a shot at the win to the ambulance and no payday pretty quickly last year) that having the lion’s share of the prize purse for the top 5 or 6 doesn’t make much sense. What other professional sports pay only the teams that win?
Although I am American, I don’t like the style of DeBoom or Reid.
When did Peter Reid defect?
Of course I know that Reid is Canadian (so is his ex). Doesn’t mean as a North American that I think his style is cool. Like my original post, I think the old-school to-the-front is awesome racing. Guys like Macca or Holzner or Al-Sultan in these two races are just like the first generation like Molina or Pigg. Or do think Reid or DeBoom are, showing up unprepared with nothing but excusses. Sure, you’re going to say that these two have won Hawaii twice apiece. That is true but this thread is talking about Roth and Frankfurt. They were not prepared to win.
In response to
“However, there are not so many places where you can hold IM worlds in October because of the weather issues…”
So they don’t get held in October. They get held whenever the new location has their most favourable conditions. Why should a WORLD Championship favour athletes from the northern hemispehere? Athletes from the southern hemisphere have to train through their winter for an October race. Not everyone can afford to go overseas to train so a true World’s would rotate location and time of year, therefore giving everybody an equal opportunity to perform.
I’m all for guys hammering the bike and mixing it up, if nothing else it adds spice to the race. It would be awesome if a whole crew of guys made a break on the bike at Kona (Macca, Waldo, Holzner, if he changes his mind, Stadler, Zack, Hellriegel, Andersson, etc… and then a group of guys tried to run them down(Reid, Deboom, Brown, Lovato, Leder, Beke, Colting, Lessing, Bell, etc…)
I’ll be rooting for Macca and Lovato, myself. Waldo, if he races. To a lesser degree, Zack and Leder. Never have been a Reid or Cam Brown fan.
whats wrong with racing to your strengths? the guys sitting back are the runners, if you will, and why would they want to waste all their energy on the bike?
Nothing wrong with it at all. It’s a smart strategy for many of the guys. I just want them to get rid of that stupid stagger rule.
That’s what I had in mind when I posted this - the “championship” would move around to the various WTC Ironman franchise venues and the race would be at the time that, that race is traditionally held such as, IMC at the end of August and so on.
I wonder if this is something the WTC has considered. I think that it could be a real shot in the arm for the organization.
I know, people would say," but what about IMH"? Rotate the Championship back there every 4 - 5 years.
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marshalls strictly reinforce drafting penalties
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the 3’ (or 5’ etc.) penalty rule is changed…think about it this way…you draft, get 10’ to 15’ faster on the bike (see the nice little train in Hawaii) then run 10’ faster…you gain at least 20’ and get a 3’ penalty???
I’m not sure if the pros where running under different rules, but the age groupers had a 6 minute penalty for drafting in Frankfurt. Still, perhaps, worth the penalty for the time saving ‘If’ you got caught.
I watched Roth this year and competed in Frankfurt and I think one thing that is missing from this discussion is the weather factor. Roth was perfect weather, while the wind in Frankfurt on Sunday was very strong. This race rewarded (look at the ager groupers who are going to hawaii) those who were patient on the bike and hammered the run.
Brown and Deboom where pulling Holzner in at a pretty good clip, they just needed a little more distance, and they would have pulled him in just as the pulled in Zäck and Hellriegel. Not sure as if this was a style issue just smart racing considering the weather.
Peter Reid, I think, just ran a normal ‘B’ race in crappy weather conditions. He is focusing on another win in Hawaii. Do we get upset if a certain Mr. Armstrong does not do well at an early season race because he focuses on the Tour? Why would we have a different standard for a top pro in our sport who does the same?
With that said, Nina Kraft ran an outstanding race with her time in those weather conditions. She and Nicole Leder will certainly be forces in Hawaii.
Andrew