30/06/2023
Challenge Roth 2023 – Full Recap
It’s been a few days now since I crossed the finish line in Roth and what day that was!!!
But let’s start from the beginning…
Swim
This was my first swim mass start, and I have to say it was an experience of its own, but thanks I prefer rolling start from now. As soon as the gun went off we all started swimming hard, and for about 100m it was all looking ok, but then I got hit in the goggles, I think by an arm or elbow (my eye is still blue). It took some time to refocus myself, but I did it and the rest of the swim went well till the end. This wasn’t my fastest swim, and for sure was not the most accurate in navigation, but still, I am in the end happy with my achieved time.
T1
Quick transition with great volunteers, went through it controlled without rushing.
Bike
The bike course is great, with some shorter climbs but still a super fast course. When I went to the course there was a decent bunch of athletes in front of me and I started working my way up steadily and surly not to get any penalty, and it lasted by Greding Hill there I surged up the climb and later I found myself in the nice open road without may athletes around, so from this point, I was able to get in a steady pace of my own and just put my head down and do some hard work. The next big point was Solar Hill, OMG what an atmosphere that was, those moments riding up were just breathtaking with all of those spectators around us, amazing moments! Soon I started my second loop and I found myself in a lot of traffic from athletes starting their first loop, so for the next 40km there was a lot of surging to pass groups of athletes, this was not a pleasant part at all and it was very tactical on how to pass some groups and not get a penalty for drafting or blocking. After we reached Greding Hill for the second time traffic again cleared up a bit from the top and I was again able to ride my tempo till the end from there.
T2
This transition was mind-blowing, volunteers take and rack your bike, get your run gear, put sunblock on you, stock you up with your nutrition pack up your bike gear in run back, they DO IT ALL, it was kind of feeling of an F1 pit stop, hats down Challenge Roth Volunteers!!!
Run
The run started really well, first 10k was behind me just like that and at a very good pace for me, next 10k was still feeling okay, a problem here was that I took only one gel that wasn’t feeling too great for me, and maybe too early I decided to switch only to coke, from halfway point I noticed legs were heavier and my pace dropped down a bit, but still, I was going really well, and it was all ok up to the point when I was coming back in Roth and the course started to be more of a rolling than flat, at this point, I lost all of my energy and running up hills was just not going as I would like it. In the last 10k, I lost quite a bit of time, but still, I was running all flat portions and downhills, while uphill was a run/walk combination as much as I could.
In the end, I finished with a total time of 9:30:48, which is my personal best, and I improved my 3-week-old time from Hamburg for 7minuts.
In the end, the last 3 weeks were such a success, and I am super stoked with my accomplished times in both races. Today looking back to last year's failure in Frankfurt I am actually grateful for how it all went down, as without that experience I would not be here today, and it really does not matter how many times we fell down, as long as we get up every time more determine to give our best on next attempt.
Thanks to the amazing team at Challenge Roth, the volunteers, and the amazing 300.000 spectators along the course!!!
