Completed: July 3, 2022
The biggest challenge: Enduring the sun all day
The catchphrase: “They went way overboard with the heat.”
This time we went to the biggest IronMan Challenge on the European continent, which took place in Roth, Bavaria, Germany. The Sunday race started at exactly 6:30 a.m. with a 3.8-kilometer-long canal swim, alongside some professional triathletes such as Jan Frodeno or Patrick Lange.
My guide Marek and I did well in the water—we had plenty of space around us, so we didn’t get mixed up with the other contestants. Well, apart from that incident where I almost had a collision with a rescue ship, but luckily avoided it in the end.
After getting out of the water, we quickly ran through the depot, got ready for the cycling part, and set off on the 180-kilometer-long cycling track with an elevation of 1,500 meters above sea level. While riding a tandem bike, the atmosphere at Solarer Berg was the best experience for me. There were thousands of people cheering, clapping, and patting us on the back. After a while, we realized that we experienced a similar feeling at the Tour de France.
When we arrived at the next depot in Roth, we applied a lot of sunscreen, and for the next 42 kilometers of running I was hoping that I wouldn’t pass out—it was so hot! We measured our run from one refreshment stand to the other, dipping our heads in a water barrel every now and then. Many competitors were carried on stretchers straight from the finish line.
We finished the whole race in 11 hours 03 mins 35 secs.
