On 20 July Challenge Roth will celebrate “30 Years of Triathlon in Roth” with the strongest field of pro athletes ever seen at the world’s largest long distance triathlon, joined by 5,500 age group and watched by 220,000 spectators.
Announced at today’s media conference, among the male athletes are Luke McKenzie (AUS) (2nd in Hawaii), Australian top athlete Pete Jacobs (Hawaii winner in 2012), James Cunnama from South Africa (4th in Hawaii), Eneko Llanos from the Basque country, Dirk Bockel from Luxembourg (winner of last year’s DATEV Challenge Roth) and German top athletes Timo Bracht and Nils Frommhold, all of whom will put up a fierce fight for a place on the podium. With a field of this caliber, it is hard to pick a favourite, all can go sub 7:50, a prerequisite to win Challenge Roth.
Luke McKenzie, who was born in Taree/Australia and now lives in California, has won as many as six long-distance competitions so far. A few days before his participation in the world’s biggest long-distance race, the outstanding athlete will celebrate his 33rd birthday, and would give himself the best birthday present if he won his first victory in Roth. Pete Jacobs, who won Hawaii in 2012 in a fantastic race, has never reached the top position in Roth so far either, so he will definitely want to fight hard on July 20. James Cunnama is already one step ahead, as he has already won Roth in 2012. And last year’s winner of DATEV Challenge Roth, Dirk Bockel from Luxembourg, got hooked by the event as well. After having finished in 7:52:01 hours in 2013, and now that he already knows the race course, he is aiming to do even faster this year.
Timo Bracht has still a score to settle in Roth, because so far the six-times Ironman winner has never been able to win here. In 2013, Bracht was as close to a victory than never before, but then a flat tire ruined his chance of victory. Will his dream come true at last this year? Another promising German athlete might get into his way: Nils Frommhold, who recently won the IM South Africa – the second long-distance victory of the 28-year-old athlete from Berlin. nother athlete to reckon on is Eneko Llanos from the Basque country, who has already won several long-distance races. He also finished among the top five athletes several times in Roth and won a great victory at IM Frankfurt, so he has shown that he is still one of the best triathletes in the world in spite of his age of 37 years.
The world-class field of participants is completed by Andrej Vistica from Croatia (winner of Challenge Vichy and current ETU European Champion) as well as the strong German top athletes Markus Fachbach, Joe Spindler, Per Bittner and Swen Sundberg. Not to forget Andreas Niedrig, who wants to reach a really great result again this year in Roth, and of course Lothar Leder, who has made history as four-times “King of Roth” (2000 to 2003) – and has contributed a lot to the “myth” of Roth with his four victories in a row.
Good tradition in Roth: The world’s best field of female participants
After Chrissie Wellington’s sensational victories in Roth and her still valid world-record time of 2011, one would have thought that this is as good as it gets for some time to come. But now the current Hawaii winner Mirinda Carfrae will take part in Roth, and she wants to show the triathlon world that she can be Wellington’s legitimate successor. Mirinda Carfrae, nicknamed “Rinny”, was born in Australia and now lives in Boulder/Colorado. She has heard so many good things about DATEV Challenge Roth – especially from Belinda Granger – that she can hardly wait to take part. In Hawaii, she was followed closely by Rachel Joyce from England, the current 2nd place Hawaii finisher and 2012 winner of Challenge Roth. Last year, Joyce had to cancel her participation in Roth due to a virus infection, but this year she will be there and perhaps there will again be a duel between the best female athletes in Roth. But three further top-ten Hawaii finishers are also going to participate in Roth: Yvonne Van Vlerken (4th in Hawaii), Caroline Steffen (5th) and Michelle Vesterby (8th). In 2013, Caroline Steffen from Switzerland took part in Roth for the first time and was able to win the race right away – just as the “flying Dutchwoman” Yvonne van Vlerken three years earlier. Young Danish athlete Michelle Vesterby still has to get to know the special atmosphere at DATEV Challenge Roth, but she is also among the favourites to win the race.
Local Julia Gajer has already proved her strength in Roth: After her second place in 2011, and third places in 2012 and 2013, the only thing that is still missing for Julia Gajer is a victory in Roth. Diana Riesler and Daniela Sämmler are also among the strong German female athletes. Riesler won the 2013 Challenge Vichy event and thus the title of ETU European Champion, in a fantastic sub-9 finish. Sämmler was able to reach a 3rd place in her very first long-distance race in Spain in 2012, followed by a 2nd place in Denmark in 2012. Rebekah Keat from Australia is also one of the top female athletes. She finished second in Roth in 2010 and third in 2011, and further top positions in other competitions of the Challenge Series. She is determined to reach an “extremely fast finishing time” at the DATEV Challenge Roth event this year.