Luc Van Lierde looked cooked coming in off of the bike. Unbelievable from the man who gave us the fastest Kona and 7:50 at Roth.
Luc has had on-and-off medical problems over the past few years (or more, actually!) There is not another person on the planet who knows what being the record holder in Hawaii AND the overall Ironman World record holder does to your body.
Walk a mile in his shoes.
I agree. I have always rooted for him ever since that awesome Kona dayview but it seems that a couple of years after he lost his mojo
I got to talk to him at Muskoka a week after his terrible race at Honu when he was sick. He has had both knees scoped and both achilles tendons operated on. When you go 7:50 something gives.
Look at that historic 1997 race from Roth: Van Lierde, Zack, Lothar Leder and Hellriegel. All sub 8 that day. It take a toll on the body. Today, none are in the thick of the action, but just remember they are also 8 years older. Something about time that takes the zip out of the best of us humans.
Unless of course you are Karen Smyers. Then you just keep hauling ass.
Cripes! I didn’t even know about the knees!
That race in Muskoka – one week after everyone made such a big deal about Jones beating him in Honu – he swam with Bryan Rhoads and bike with Rhoads and Whitfield… dropped a few place on the run but not much. If he could just pull it together again… (sigh)… man…
Ray
yeah…he showed me all the scars. Pretty amazing man.
I hope that you didn’t mis-interpret my post as a lack of respect. I think he is great. All the more reason for me to be surpirsed to see him struggling. I do know that he has had considerable problems with injury.
Please do not think that I am disrespecting him, quite the contrary.
Don’t worry… I actually appreciate the update on Luc. Good news or bad, I’m pulling for him!
Ray
i remember tinley saying that he thought athletes could only ‘dip into the red’ so many times in their career. mark allen said the same thing, that he figured the ‘reserves’ were finite and couldn’t be replenished.
sadly, luc’s coach said that when he set the record at roth he was purposely racing sub-max; i don’t think he’ll get back to record form, but it’s something to that that luc could’ve gone faster than 7:50!
-mike
I agree. Thomas Helreigel appeared to be limping off the bike as well. But aren’t those guys in their 40’s? They outlasted Jurgen which is definitely something.
Hellriegal is 34. But maybe all of those 700 mile weeks on the bike took there toll on him.
all those guys came onto the scene very young - lothar, olaf, andreas, rainer, thomas. . . but yeah, hellreigel looks like he’s about 60.
-mike
p.s - jurgen, on the other hand, looks like a 30-year-old movie star for some reason. . .