Thursday February 26th 2009 Germany 70.3

In August 2008 I took part in the Germany 70.3 (half-Ironman) held in the very pretty town of Wiesbaden which is situated about 30k outside Frankfurt. Travelling there could not have been easier, we flew from Bristol to Frankfurt and then caught the train from Frankfurt airport to Wiesbaden. The train fare was 27 Euros return and that was for four adults two children plus two bikes, bikes plus children under 8 go free, the trains also run on time which took some getting used to.

The fact that Wiesbaden was holding it's wine festival the week of the race was purely down to luck on our part.
The Swim takes place in a boating marina off the river Rhine and is an out and back affair, a good swim course but it does have a longish run to transition. Once out on the bike the first 10k was flat and then you seemed to climb forever (well 10k at least) you did seem to be either climbing or descending for the remaining 80k.

Going up was not the problem descending was my problem, at about 45k a guy came off in front of me during one descent and I had to take evasive action, unfortunately I did not see the sneaky German ditch until it was too late. The next thing I knew I was on my back looking up through the trees, and a very pretty sight it was to, but like all good comic book super heroes I picked myself up and leapt back on my trusty steed and was on my way once again (if somewhat bruised and sore).

Unbeknown to me I had bent my bike frame (between the words Quintana and Roo and just above Roo on the top bar) which stopped me selecting my two lowest gears, which made the final hills interesting to say the least. My trusty steed did get me back to T.2. but it is with great sadness I have to report that my trusty steed's injury's were too great and I had to have her put down, I write this with tears in my eyes and will move on quickly.


Roo in casualty - it?s terminal!

The run section includes an out and back section into town at the start of each lap (3 laps) for about 2k and then meanders through parks which makes for a nice run route. The atmosphere in the town section was one of the best I have experienced and if you are thinking of doing a 70.3 in the near future this is a race I would recommend, just look out for those sneaky German ditches.

Posted by Lynn Ferris at 21:12 GMT