just in case it has been forgoten last monday the embrunman race was on. its a race that has one of the best pro price purse in long distance racing, pays down to place 15 and should get way more recognition.
I “raced” it this year and will post a report once I sort some pics (not that I saw much of the pro-race).
Zamora got disqualified in T2 for giving his jacket to his wife on the Izoard slopes. Faure won it on the run.
Scott Molina (aka Skid) made an appearance at the pre-race meeting and may have raced, although I did not see him on race day (no surprise) nor in the results (does he race under a rock-star name?)
At least they were kind enough to DQ Zamora in T2…would suck to do the full marathon and then learn about the DQ
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TBB did a little recap of David Dellow’s race (4th place): http://www.teamtbb.com/...ask=view&id=1269
I’d also venture to say that 99% of the readers on ST haven’t even heard of EmbrunMan (hence the # of views on this thread 
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thanks for the info.
I am trying to say its one of the classic races with one of the highest price purse in the world and should deserve a slot on the home page in my mind .
Was surprised to see that this didn’t get any ST attention, either in the forum or the front page. It’s a mega race that I went through extreme discomfort last year in order to get it on my race resume. For the record, I went 10h46 at Roth and with the same fitness level went 14h45 at Embrun.
Zamora’s DQ generated about 50 pages of argument on the leading French triathlon forum where, I have to say, the posts are every bit as vocal, opinionated, misinformed, ignorant and partisan as anything you would find here. Interspersed with the occasional gem of wisdom.
For my part, he broke the rules, he got DQ’d. End of story.
Haven’t heard from Herve Faure for a long time. He won IM France in 2005 and Zamora has dominated him ever since. He broke the record which validates his win irrespective of Zamora’s DQ.
I suppose the race doesn’t get much attention here because most of the guys are on road bikes not tri bikes!!
I’m looking forward to your report; I’ll be living in Italy next year and will be doing Roth and Embrunman. Thanks in advance for a report and pics.
We tweeted about it but had too little information to write a story.
It is a very interesting event for sure, but it is not news 36 hours later. I actually specifically emailed them before the race and requested results and details.
Race promoters need to be more proactive and forward that information, it is in their interest really.
We tweeted about it but had too little information to write a story.
It is a very interesting event for sure, but it is not news 36 hours later. I actually specifically emailed them before the race and requested results and details.
Race promoters need to be more proactive and forward that information, it is in their interest really.
so actually I’ll retract a little of my previous comment. This is an outstanding race, and the pro prize money is top which I think is great. However the some of the race organisation / management does leave a little to be desired so I definitely concur with your comments. I was trying to follow some friends this year and the splits / updates functionality was about where IM live was 10 years ago. their live radio feed is quite good, however if you don’t speak French then it won’t be much use.
Some years this race has been in serious doubt of taking place due to local wrangling on various issues. The after race experience for the non pro athlete is pretty tough as negotiating round all the no go zones to get wet smelly equipment right the way around the race site to the parking areas is very burdensome given your physical condition. Perhaps that is part of the attraction. Going to the middle of the alps, being throughly NOT pampered and doing about the hardest IM you could image. A return to the roots or triathlon maybe. The amazing thing is that this race only attracts about 8-900 athletes. I bet if Triangle sports took it over it would be at 2500 within 2 years. Not saying that that is what should happen, but it does reveal the standard of the race management.
Ditto what Herbert said. Compare Embrunman to Norseman. Both fantastic races. I’d say both are at the very top of my “to do” list. Norseman works with Herbert to make sure we get video, pictures, results asap, etc. Embrun? I think I did the write up of it last year, and I had to email individual athletes that I knew raced it in order to piece together a story; those athletes gave me the RDs contact info, and I never got a reply.
So the simple answer is, “because they don’t seem to want it covered.” If you know someone there, please, tell them to make themselves more available to the media. Or find out if they simply don’t care about American press. We think it’s a great race. But it’s not much of a story to just copy-paste results from the race website. And that’s assuming you can even get that information in a timely manner…
I guess some people just can’t be helped. I think part of the RD’s thinking is that he has probably maxed out the race participation. The logic is that there are plenty of guys in France/Europe who could ride Nice or Roth or Austria every year, but Embrun does take a special effort 'cos its so damn hard. Saying that, renting a chalet or Camping round the lake is a fantastic family holiday. The lake is really great for kids, and they even run kids triathlons and a Oly distance on the day before. btw the Oly gets sold out every year!
The entry fee for Embrunman is about half the fee for an IM, so it’s great value. But like you I’m just perplexed why there are always lots of criticisms (mostly justified) of the event and why he doesn’t want to take the simplest of measures to get outstanding visibility of the race. If I was RD, then ST would get airline tickets and free lodging to come over and cover (or participate in) the race. As I stated, if someone like Triangle sports bought it, they would triple the entry and double the fee and make 6x the revenue off it in within 2-3 years. No brainer.
You know, if I have to chose a race to do, in the “same category” I would choose the Alpe d’Huez tri over both Embrunman or Norseman. I’m all for tough courses, but I find a flat to rolling IM hard enough, and I’m not horribly interested in a complete survival contest that will take me 3 hours longer than another Ironman…30 min longer…OK, sure…but 3 hours longer? Not really interested.
Alpe d’Huez sounds like the right mix of challenge while short enough not to leave one shelled for months on end. To that affect the Mont Ventoux Tri sounds really interesting too…4K swim, 140K ride with a Ventoux climb and 30K run. Sounds like it will take as long as an Ironman.
I think if Embrunman was 4/120/30 it might actually shoot up to 2000 people more easily, but for some reason in this sport, we’re fixated on the standard distance. I think when we stick to the standard IM distance and make the course insanely difficult it moves from the realm of a race to a survival contest, which perhaps many athletes are not THAT interested in.
Then again, if they get 800-900, that’s a decent enough field. As for the RD not really going for the opportunity to get their story on ST, my observation is that when in France the world kind of ends at the French borders. I’ll probably get bashed for this but I have found this trend and I mean it in a nice way. Many french folks are quite happy with everything inside their country and probably don’t care THAT much about foreign media coverage…but that’s just my observation…I could be totally wrong.
Dev
I wonder if it is simply a language issue. I ended up helping a few racers with translation at the end of the pre-race meeting as the few members of the organization who spoke English were overwhelmed.
If you do end up racing Embrunman, send me a pm as I might be able to help with a homestay or other local resources.
I won’t disagree with the Norseman vs. Embrun comments about race coverage as Norseman does seem to have better coverage…is it because Bjorn started the ties with ST? But this year there certainly was a bit more interest with Tim DeBoom racing Norseman. Gerald with Embrun can be tough to get ahold of. He was to do a 3/4 distance race in Thailand this april with an equally attractive prize purse to Embrun, but biblical flooding cancelled it.
Definitely after having been over here (Europe) for 8-12 weeks each of the last 2 summers, the triathlon community is certainly different than in the States. They seem to be very slow to adopt the whole social networking aspect of race coverage, etc. At least the Embrun director is on FB…doesn’t use it much though. With the exception of ST for the most part though, a lot of the American Tri press seems content to just recycle articles and people, etc. So, the mags have become like Runner’s world which seems to have rotating articles about ‘how to have your best 5k’ about 3-4 times a year! I think that the coffee table format like Inside and the more in depth articles that Lava does are pretty good. Sorry, that last bit of commentary wasn’t really on subject!
Having done both, I would say that the Alpe race is certainly less daunting than Embrun. Of course, I went in to both races a little differently prepared. Last year I had done IMUK 2 weeks before Embrun, and this year I had really done very little in terms of racing before Alpe. The conditions at Alpe this year were absolutely miserable. Cold, windy, rain. It really sucked. Anyone who would have traveled from the States to do it would have probably said “this is stupid I’m never doing this again!” But, it really kind of made Alpe a little more ‘epic’ this year. Of course the temperature at the top of the Izard last year at 3 degrees C made that race one to remember as well…if swimming in the dark behind a boat with a lantern wasn’t enough.
So, yeah, Alpe is a little bit more ‘doable’. And, it has the lure of finishing up the famous climb…and riding down most of it race morning to get to the start.
If you really want a challenge, there is always the Inferno Tri, which is somewhere in Switzerland I believe. 3-4k swim, very vertical road bike ride, very vertical mountain bike ride, and then a very tough 30k trail run!!
Then again, if they get 800-900, that’s a decent enough field. As for the RD not really going for the opportunity to get their story on ST, my observation is that when in France the world kind of ends at the French borders. I’ll probably get bashed for this but I have found this trend and I mean it in a nice way. Many french folks are quite happy with everything inside their country and probably don’t care THAT much about foreign media coverage…but that’s just my observation…I could be totally wrong.
Dev
Most of the information on the website and pre race meeting is in French, and only very little information is translated to English. Race officials speak a bit of english though and if you want you get everything sorted out. But the French information is also half complete. I think they just don’t really care about the show around the race, and let the race course speak for itself.
I raced there last monday for the first time and if you get there and plan your race you think you are in a badly organized race. But it is far from the truth, it is perfectly organized on race day. I have never seen a course that was this well secured. There was not one car going against the direction of the cyclists (blocked for oncoming traffic, and nothing slipped through), you could fly the downhills and feel save, and all cars on the course respected the athletes more then in any other race I have done. The number of volunteers was impressive.
I think if Embrunman was 4/120/30 it might actually shoot up to 2000 people more easily, but for some reason in this sport, we’re fixated on the standard distance. I think when we stick to the standard IM distance and make the course insanely difficult it moves from the realm of a race to a survival contest, which perhaps many athletes are not THAT interested in.
Embrunman should never become easier. It is a real good triathlon experience, and it is nothing but amazing that not more people go there. The race has a real good atmosphere, a big crowd everywhere on the course, and a “fun” experience of swimming in the dark and a one loop bike course. It might take a bit longer then a normal ironman, but it does not really feel that way as it is way less boring then those multi loop bike courses.
just in case it has been forgoten last monday the embrunman race was on. its a race that has one of the best pro price purse in long distance racing, pays down to place 15 and should get way more recognition.
I agree. 9:34 on that course is nothing but absolute world class. It is worth the attention given to the performances done in Roth and Austria lately. It is really that good. Even if the race directors do not provide any information, it should still be mentioned.
well they seem to improve…this year they had live commentary on the website and i saw the results while the race was still on.
But I hear both Herbert and Jordan and they dont seem to make it easy to be covered .
Still I think a race of that caliber should be covered in some way and even a copy and paste report with results would be better than nothing in my mind.
results are are here: http://www.embrunman.com/fichiers/Avenir/embrunman_2011.pdf
tough race!
OK, for the hard cores you guys can keep Norseman, Embrunman and Ultraman events.
What I am saying that for the rest of us mere mortals, perhaps races in this category is not totally appealing perhaps in the same way that a 10K runner on half marathon guy might attempt a marathon but will pretty well say NO to a 50K run or longer.
The topography of France, Switzerland and parts of Italy really lend themselves well to 3/4 distance events (say 3-4K swim/110-140K bike/20-30K run), simply because you can incorporate some of the legendary climbs that these regions are famous for and make the races really tough, but within the “reach” of most humans.
Imagine a tri that incorporates an ascent of Tourmalet in France, or Stelvio in Italy, or the Sustenpass in Switzerland. Basically the athlete gets an amazing challenge while covering some HC Protour climbs, while doing a triathlon, but it is not so daunting for both athletes and organizers that it must start at 6 am and even then most athletes are not done by 8 pm. Hopefully most athletes can actually be done before dinner time.
I think the Alpe d’Huez tri and the recently created Mont Ventoux tri are on the right track and there is potential here for similar races. Kudos to those who want to do Norseman or Embrunman, but I think there is room for more at the 3/4 distance featuring some amazing riding and to some degree by steering away from the Ironman distance, these races compete with the WTC by offering an entirely different category of challenge.
OK, for the hard cores you guys can keep Norseman, Embrunman and Ultraman events.
Embrunman looks like the most normal one of these races in my opinion because of the “doable” run course. It is tough, but nothing really extreme like Norseman. Also don’t forget, the bike course is not like a real tour de france mountain stage with only one serious climb. I have done more difficult rides during my two week taper holiday in the French Alps. 