Link: http://www.challenge-roth.com/en/aktuelles_detail.php?ID=551
Epic battles on tap for Quelle Challenge Roth
The Quelle Challenge Roth, the world’s largest long-course triathlon, is readying for an epic showdown among the best long-course athletes in the world. The race is set for Sunday, July 2 in the triathlon-mad hamlet of Roth.
Defending champion Chris McCormack, who has twice gone under the eight-hour barrier to win, will face a deep field that includes 2004 runner-up and current Kona champion Faris Al-Sultan of Germany. The Aussie and Al-Sultan battled head to head in 2004 before McCormack pulled away to win in the final kilometers of the run. Challenging them will be a host of international stars, including Aussie Jason Shortis (eighth last year); Spain’s Eneko Llanos, a two-time XTERRA world champion whose transition to long-course racing included a second-place finish at Ironman Western Australia last year; former long-course world champion Cyrille Neveu of France; Spain’s Francisco Pontano, who posted a breakthrough eighth-place performance in Kona last year; fearsome cyclist Bjorn Andersson of Sweden and countryman Clas Bjorling (sixth here last year) with great closing footspeed on the run; Aussie Justin Granger, tenth here last year; and rising Kiwi Kieran Doe, who shared the sharp end of the field with McCormack last year until fading on the run.
To vie against those top internationals, Germany’s Bernd Eichorn (seventh last year) and Roth’s own Michi Hofman, 11th last year and the winner of the world firefighters crown, also contested in Roth, will also return. Rising German star Markus Fachbach, who took third at his Ironman debut last year at Ironman Florida, will be making his first start in Roth. And the legendary Andreas Niedrig is planning to close out his career with one more start in Roth, a race dear to his heart.
On the women’s side, defending champion Belinda Granger of Australia will face a tough field of fellow Oceania athletes along with a raft of top European competitors as she seeks to defend her title. From Australia comes Melissa Ashton, third at April’s Ironman Australia behind Granger and making her Roth debut, and from New Zealand comes Joanna Lawn, a four-time Ironman New Zealand winner who was fourth in Kona last year. Germany’s Ute Mückel, third in Roth last year, Dagmar Matthes (fourth last year) and Wenke Kujala, a past second-place finisher at Ironman Switzerland who lives in nearby Hilpoltstein, will also be among the starters. From the U.S. comes Karen Holloway, last year’s winner of Ironman Canada, who is also making her Roth debut.
The Quelle Challenge Roth reached its capacity of 2,700 individual entries and 1,700 athletes in relay teams in late December, making Roth by far the largest event on the ultra-distance calendar. Registration for the 2007 edition of the race will open on July 2. |
Back