Carried away after completing (and enjoying) our leg of the
Swisspower Gigathlon in July, some of the public
sector team members, reborn under the new name of Bergziege@sap
(mountain goats to you) decided to try our hand as a triathlon relay
team in the Heidelberg triathlon in August .
Due to the hilly profile of the cycling and running routes, the
Heidelbergman has been described as "Probably the toughest of
it's distance on earth" (and not just by us..). Competitors
complete a 1.7km swim, followed by a 40km bike ride (twice up the
Königsstühl) and 10km run (up the Philosophenweg). This is the
standard olympic or "short distance" triathlon, though
quite long enough for me thanks. It is a part of the Rhein-Neckar cup
triathlon series and both individual and team entries are accepted.
Illness and other unfortunate events meant that I lost my team
members, Frank and Olaf, the evening before the event. Ever the
optimist, and understandably not wanting to miss out on the
opportunity to swim in the beautiful river Neckar (?), I decided to
register anyway. While doing so I met up with Olaf Springer, a
cyclist looking for a team.. and so I became the runner as well as
the swimmer.
The Neckar swim wasn't as cold as expected (circa 18°C, plenty warm
enough with a wetsuit), and once you get going you soon forget about
the goose excrement or worse that you are swimming through. As this
was the first time I have competed over this distance, it was fairly
difficult to judge the pace and was tempted to start far too quickly,
though I was pleased at the end to see a couple of fellow SAPWave
swimming colleagues exiting the water at the same time. I was also
pleased to see some familiar faces at the end of the run, but not as
pleased as I was to see the finish line! Olaf turned out to be a
great cyclist and we made a rather fine team in the end, managing a
49th place overall.
Although it is nice and easy to be able to hand over to a team-mate
in the changing zone, now I know I can do 2 thirds of it, one day I
aim to complete the full triathlon on my own..
In August I went to marvel at the insanity of the competitors in the
Ironman Germany event in Frankfurt. In
30°C temperatures and a great atmosphere I watched the bike-run
changeover, and was able to cheer on Jens 'Linus' (a friend from
erasmus days in Mainz) and some fellow Heidelbergers on the running
leg, as well as watching local heroes Lothar Leder and Katja
Schumacher cross the finish line victorious.
