Twelve months of hard training gone into German Ironman challenge
1:00am Friday 4th July 2008
TWENTY members of Warrington Triathlon Club will be tackling the mighty German Ironman event on Sunday.
They will be challenged by a 3.8km swim followed by a 180km cycle ride and then a 42.2km run.
For Fergus Wiseman, one of the members who founded the club in 2004, it will be the second time he has gone the distance and he is hoping to better his time from the 2006 Austrian Ironman of 11hrs 56mins.
Club favourite for the fastest time in Frankfurt is Carl Bibby, who has had a consistent set of results leading up to the event.
Husband and wife team James and Katie Benson are also favoured to finish in good times, while Mark Green, who is also raising money for The Jane Tomlinson Appeal and Halton Hospice, has been training for up to 16 hours per week in a bid to meet the physical demands.
Warrington will be the largest British club team to be competing in the event and for many of the athletes it will mean the end of 12 months of hard training that will hopefully result in them becoming proud owners of an Ironman finisher’s medal.
The long day begins in Langener Waldsee, a large lake 12km outside of Frankfurt.
Thousands of competitors will begin the swim before they strip off the wetsuits and straddle their bicycles over a two-lap 180km course.
The riders will be taken through downtown Frankfurt, including a steep cobbled area, and into the surrounding countryside.
To prepare for the cycling part, Warrington Triathlon Club members have regularly been riding to Wales, Blackpool and the Peak District, while considerable numbers of the club took part in this year’s Fred Whitton Challenge - a 112-mile journey that encompassed all of the difficult passes in the Lake District.
After between five and eight hours in the saddle it will be time to put on the running shoes and head out along the River Main for 42.2km.
The race organisers describe the marathon-distance run as being a flat route that offers fast times.
Considering the distances that will already have been covered by the Warrington triathletes, many will just be happy to finish the distance and will be using a run/walk strategy.