Over the past few years, having raced in places like Iceland, Patagonia, Switzerland, Austria and most any place in North America…you might guess that I have experienced MOST of what our sport has to offer. There are of course some bench mark races still left on my radar and now I can say I’ve experienced Challenge ROTH!
To me, training and racing in Europe has been eye opening on many levels. For one, I LOVE the way most European cultures set up their towns with access to hundreds of beautiful, quiet country roads with ample respect given to riders. Also, nature seems to be coveted along with social engagements and sharing time together. Our fast-paced American culture is often times only over shadowed by “what is next” “how much” or a general lack of “relaxing” built into our lives. It has been about 2.5 years since I truly sent myself into a 140.6 distance event and I can tell you I was super nervous.
So, how do I feel about Challenge Roth?
Personally, I believe this event stands for the purity of what triathlon truly represents deep within all of us. No where else will 200,000 athletes and spectators come together on one day to celebrate swimming, biking and running! Aside from the race-day experience, the expo is a mall of vendors all sharing in the same goal…highlight triathlon and their connection to this sport. Challenge Family racing is very seldom experienced by North American athletes as IRONMAN is the most dominant race organization we are familiar with; however, I do hope that changes in the future for a more diverse race atmosphere. Challenge ROTH is an icon event for the city of Roth, which is typically a very quiet town and has many smaller and more quiet villages all around. However on race week, things change drastically and on race day, all race roads are closed and the towns dedicate all resources towards the athlete experience.
How did my race go? As much as I wish I could say it went even 90% to plan, I can say having taken 2.5 years away from this distance I lost a few key strokes of previous success in painting an adequate build at least on the marathon. Nutritionally, I also experienced some incredibly massive low points in the final 10km which ultimately cost me around 35-40 minutes. This means I lost out on my sub-8 hour finish goal.
I can however, reflect with a VERY positive manner on the overall love and respect for this experience and I will be back in 2025. I was lucky enough to be hosted by a lovely family, located within 1.5 Km of the race start and was able to connect with hundreds of friends, business compatriots and athletes during my journey. The swim atmosphere is a canal lined with cheering fans, the bike course is never clear of spectators with Solar hill giving me the most emotional experience during a race, ever. Finally, the run course is just as well supported along a canal and headed through the final tougher 10km up/downhill section that can be really crippling if you’re deep into the well. I fell short by 5-10% on each leg but am overall happy to have fought well, shared so many smiles and represented Real Triathlon Squad which is gaining a world-wide level of recognition.
Truly, being the head of the spear in driving our team forward on growth and spreading such a strong message of love towards the athletes who participate in our sport is the best feeling of joy. In summation, I hope it is abundantly clean how much love I share for the Challenge Family staff and of course Felix who is the face of this organization. I hope you can make this bucket-list event happen more than just once and if you need anything at all in terms of travel or training advice I would love to help. Thank you for reading!
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