A long gap between Ironman South Africa and the start of the European Ironman season! In South Africa it was Alejandro who amazed with a 3h03′ marathon and taking his World Championships ticket in style!
Who will join him? Who can play this role untill the finishline…that was the question of course!
Bert…not, simply because this year he made the decision to realize a dream at age 43 and race his first season as a pro athlete! So racing back to back among the pro’s to see what’s possible and measure with the very best in Ironmanracing! Not an easy decision, but a very challenging and respectable decision!

Pirmin? Our swiss athlete who wanted to make the step back towards a high level AG athlete. AG 45, but when Sam Gydé says to me ‘he’s a good athlete, strong,…he can’ then it must be possible! And so it is, a very good built up through autumn and winter and a first test in Cannes (France) finishing 2nd AG.

During the swim, both athletes did a great job.
Bert (former swimmer) was clearly in a good stroke and gets out of the water in 53′. Pirmin was swimmin very well on training and confirms this with a 1h00′ swim, directly aiming towards top10 in his AG.

The cyclingpart in Lanzarote is known being the toughest and most difficult in the world. Not only altitude but also the strong winds make it to what it is! Only the strong survive. On this course you need to be a strong cyclist-runner to simply come to the end of the race!

Bert clearly felt good in his new role and moved up during the first half of the bikecourse. Being spotted 12th halfway the bikecourse, with behind him former Full distance winners such as Raña, Vistica,… Normalizing +/-300NP during this part of the race and HR slightly up is risky of course…but in the game trying is no shame!
Pirmin, not so far behind, was moving up very strongly and was on his way riding the strongest bikesplit in his AG, by far! He moved up so strongly that once the athletes passed halfway he took the lead and kept making the gap!

In the 2nd part of the bikecourse Bert needed to control the body do not overdo it before the marathon! Delay of lactic acid production of course is critical in longer distance events.

Good to conquer the last climbs a bit more moderat before parking the bike! Pirmin stayed in pace and made a huge gap with his opponents. Not too many slots in Lanzarote, so being top of the ranking is a need if you want to qualify for Kona! There’s no in between.

Off the bike Bert could start running his pace and he was amazed some of the other pro athletes didn’t pass him earlier in the race! At kilometer 32 spotted in 15th position, but with many athletes very close it would be racing ‘full gazz’ untill the finishline! Pirmin was aiming for a 4’50-5’00/km pace to keep control of the body and keep the HR stable! At km 32 Pirmin was still in the lead, BUT 4 athletes came very close and slots would be played ‘life or death’. Pirmin grabbed the chance with both hands, kept faith and pace and ran towards 2nd place! Kona is calling, Pirmin is in after an excellent race!
In front of him Bert came in 17th, right in the middle of the Pro field!

Ironman Lanzarote wasn’t the only Triathlon today!
In The Netherlands Brouwersdam triathlon 1-80-10 was held, our athletes did a good job in this new ‘crazy format’ triathlon and also prooved that youth is there to step up towards Ironman in a few years? Our youngest triathlete, Rens 19years old, did an excellent race to finish 9th overall among the Dutch (Sub)top on the long distance!

A happy coach, having some exceptional glass of champagne tonight. Some moments you simply need to enjoy 😉



Ciao

Jesse