Race Report: Ironman Roth

Race Report: Ironman Roth

Post by Markus Rosenkra » Tue, 12 Jul 1994 17:48:40


Results:

Women

1. Paula Newby-Fraser (Sim)     8:50:53 h (New World Record!)
2. Susan Latshaw (USA)          +18:33 min
3. Katinka Wiltenburg (Ned)     +21:46 min
4. Ines Estedt (Ger)            +29:45 min
5. Monika Feuersinger (Austria) +36:09 min
6. Silvia Nussbaumer (Austria)  +41:35 min

Men

1. Juergen Zaeck (Ger)          8:01:59 h
2. Peter Kropko (Hun)           8:03:35 h
3. Rainer Mueller (Ger)         8:04:49 h
4. Lothar Leder (Ger)           8:07:38 h
5. Wolfgang Dittrich (Ger)      8:11:02 h
6. Frank Heldoorn (Ned)         8:12:43 h
...
9. Mark Allen (USA)             8:23:49 h

Paula Newby-Fraser and Juergen Zaeck on top in Roth!

It was a great race yesterday in Roth, the weather was fine (sunny and warm) and a lot of fast guys were there, including the current Ironman champs Mark Allen and Paula Newby-Fraser. Wolfgang Dittrich was the fastest swimmer (surprise, surprise!) and left the water after 45:49 min, 2 seconds before Nick Croft (Aus). The group with all favourites was remarkable 3 min behind these two guys.
Dittrich was leading for a long time, because Croft was too slow on the bike. Behind Dittrich a pack of about 8 trias, including Zaeck, Leder, Glah and Mueller has formed and they paced (almost drafted) behind the leader. Dittrich, who was interviewed on the bike (!), was very angry about that. He was caught after 90 km by this group. But Mark Allen was not there, he was more than 3 min behind, together with Peter Kropko. The ranking after the bike:

1. Leder
2. Zaeck        +0:32 min
3. Mueller      +2:41 min
4. Glah         +3:01 min
6. Dittrich     +6:01 min
8. Allen        +11:47 min (!)
9. Kropko

Lothar Leder (2. Nice, winner Strongman/Japan) a young tria with a bright future was  the first man off the bike. But I think he felt a little tired (Nice was only 2 weeks ago!) and Zaeck caught him soon. But what about Mark Allen? Would he be able to run on top? No, not today, he seemed to be tired, his run was not as easy as we saw it many times. But respect for Mark, he finished the race on 9 th place more than 20 minutes behind the winner. And the winner was ... Juergen Zaeck. He made a very intelligent race, did not go too *** the bike (like sometimes in the past), had a good run on a constant pace and finished in remarkable 8:01:59 h. During the race it seemed to be possible for him to finish sub 8, but it was a little to hot for him. Second was Peter Kropko, the lovely guy from Hungary, who had an unbelievable run. Rainer Mueller,
former Vice-Worldchampion on the OD, finished his first Ironman in 3 rd place. Leder and Dittrich finished next and 6 th was Frank Heldoorn, the winner of the Lanzarote Ironman.
Mark Allen said after the race that he was not injured and his preparation was ok. He just had a "bad" day and the other guys were better that day. I think that was very fair and honest from that great athlete. He lost the race, but I think he won a lot of friends here. He said that these young guys were too fast for him on the bike today, but he thought that he still had a chance to win with a fast run in spite of being more than 11 min behind the leader. But on the running course he felt bad and he lost a lot of time. He said that he will have an easy year (only two main events: Roth and Berlin Marathon, not: Zofingen, Nice, Hawaii), because after hard years of racing he needs time to relax. Very clever decision, I think, many of us should think about that. The next two years he wants to race like the years before and then he wants to retire (he's then 38 years old).

The women's race was a little boring, because PNF was too strong for the other ladies. She was second out of the water (about 50 min) and she had then to race alone for the rest of the day. She finished in 8:50:53 h (New World Record) more than 18 min before Susan Latshaw. Congratulations to Paula for her great victory!

Hope you enjoyed the report.

Markus

 
 
 

Race Report: Ironman Roth

Post by SZA » Wed, 13 Jul 1994 01:05:02


Markus:

Thank you very much!

Scott Zagarino