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First race of the season: 4th at Kinzigtal-Triathlon - 4th - Again!

 

In a way there is nothing to complain about concerning last weekend’s race in Gelnhausen which served as my season opener. Except for coming in 4th behind old fellow Oliver Weber. Again. Oliver is a really nice guy who I know from way back when and we even chatted pre race about our shot at the win had not two professionals signed up for the race just three days before the race day. We agreed on that ideally the two of us would race for the last spot on the podium, third. We did not know just how right we would be. But let’s start from the beginning:


The swim went alright except for the knock on the head I received just 20 meters into the first lane. My black eye is testament to the fact that someone at least tried to swim faster than my in the opening 50 meters.

It was pouring rain just the way I like it when we ran to our bikes and I was in 10th posi-tion mounting my QR and looking forward to the next 23km. I am made for racing in temperatures around 10° Celsius so I relished in that. The rain though… made things difficult when cornering and especially in those three roundabouts we had to navigate through. Nonetheless I made my way through the field towards the front. 

After the first of two laps I had first passed Oliver for 3rd, then the fastest swimmer of the day for 2nd place. To Oliver I had said “See you on the run course!” as I was quite sure he’d catch me there. On the second bike lap though the leading man was nowhere in sight and in the end the fastest bike time of the day belonged to him and regrettably not to me by some tiny 20 seconds. Maybe he just took a riskier approach to cornering on Sunday because later he told me that in the last roundabout his rear wheel had nearly overtaken him and his had been able to prevent a crash at the last moment. On the other hand maybe it was the bike I rode Sunday that cost those precious 20sec. With the 2011 CD 0.1 sold and the 2012 frame not delivered yet, I was forced to use my still very much loved TiPhoon which regrettably is a 9 year old design which surely is not as "aero" as the CD 0.1. In the end, it's over now and the old metal still persormed quite well. So there is no reason to complain.

Off the bike I went in 2nd place with Oliver trailing in 3rd by some 45sec. and in 4th European Cup Veteran Paul Schuster some 90sec behind. One could think that for a mere 5k run that might be enough but not with those running legs of mine on this very day.

I thus tried to start the run hard and smile in the face of disaster at the turn around in order to set back the competition. Regrettably that plan did not work out as the guy in 4th had on his way to the fastest run split of the day (16:02min for 5k), already moved up th 3rd and the pass was imminent and swift. Behind him was Oliver working hard to catch me. Then there was no one for the next minute. So it was either 3rd or 4th today and I fought hard. Nonetheless my fading run legs had me hear his breath a few meters before the 4k marker. It was almost the same place where Oliver had run me down for 3rd four years back - deja vu! I must said something like “Not again!”. The really nice guy that he is - and with the guy in 5th over 2min back - Oliver offered to finish the race together with me in 3rd place. Generous offer but still I declined. First the race organizers would really have a hard time figuring out what to make of that and secondly I like to really earn my spot on the podium. So I let him go and settled for 4th.

(Top 4: Paul schuter (2nd), Marcel Bischof (1st), Oliver Weber (3rd), me - did I mention it was not only raining but foggy also?)


Nonetheless I am quite content with what I have been able to gather concerning racing shape during those two weeks in training camp on Mallorca and am looking forward to the next races of the season. Until then there is still some four weeks to get my running legs back. Seems like there’s nothing to really worry about in 2012. Except perhaps that tiny pain in my right knee… again. But we’ll see how a few days of rest after the race will work as a cure for that.

Cheers


Tim


Results Kinzigtal-Triathlon Gelnhausen:

1. Marcel Bischof 0:59:06
2. Paul Schuster 1:01:09
3. Oliver Weber 1:02:22
4. Tim Stutzer 1:02:50