Written By: Cassie Connors
My first iron distance. Challenge Roth is notorious for being epic. It did not disappoint. The beautiful setting, the insane crowds, our tour company with full-service accommodations and transportation…no expense was spared anywhere (yet it still cost less than an Ironman brand race).
The weeks leading up to the race I had high nerves, which is normal for me. Doing the open water swims with the group at Deer Creek, then the course preview swim calmed my fears. I was slightly nervous about the bike I had rented. It was a Quintana Roo PR5 with Di2, so I was a little too excited about riding around on my new whip to be nervous about that! Come race morning I was calm. The training had been so hard for me that I knew the race was going to be a treat.
The swim was outstanding! I have been using a swim coach from Swim Smooth Guru out of San Diego, John Chipponeri, who is also my tri coach. I was faster than I have ever been with no pain and I was jazzed by all the spectators. Drafting was constant because of the skinny canal. One loop and I was out in 1:23!
The transition was simple. Even without wetsuit strippers, I had my own personal helper to layout my things and put away my stuff so I was out on my bike in 4:50. Little did I know that the mistakes I made in T1 would shape the rest of my race to be rather unpleasant…
The bike was just awesome! I couldn’t stop smiling. It was like I was riding a rollercoaster at Busch Gardens with fans screaming your name all along the way (and yes, most towns had a speaker system and a sighter to get your number and name to call out to the crowds). Mistake #1: I had applied a heavy dose of chamois butter before the swim like I always do for a half. Little did I know that would not last me through the full distance. ALWAYS APPLY MORE LUBE!!!! No matter how long it takes you in transition. Mistake #2: A tight shoe, that I just didn’t get around to adjusting and forgot about it early in the ride… more on that later. Nutrition wasn’t terrible (Infinit), but I was pretty gassy by the end and probably did not drink enough water. This didn’t bother me much because I knew the end was near and I was prepared with GasX. Off the bike in 6:17!
T2 was a piece of cake. My personal assistant rubbed me with sunscreen and gave me Vaseline while I put on my shoes, then off I went in 3:50.
The run humbled me from the beginning. I had done a million brick workouts with strong legs after, but it’s just different. My stomach needed to settle, so I started very slow. Things got better after 10k and getting some Base Salt and water. At about 12k I felt a sharp shooting pain in the tendon where my right foot meets my leg. That tight bike shoe over 6 hours had apparently aggravated my tendon so bad I could hardly put pressure on it to walk or run. This is where I wanted to quit, and then every 1k after that… The pain continued with every step, but I knew I had to finish so I just kept moving forward. I saw Brian going to the finish while I was at 30k. I told him I didn’t know if I could finish with this amount of pain. He assured me I COULD finish and I had 3 hours to walk 12k if I had to, so I needed to get moving! I was motivated to get off the dang course! I finally convinced myself that the pain was equal if I jogged or walked, so I had better just go fast. A 5:58 run… I was so happy to be done.
My finishing time was 13:48 and I was just disappointed in how my run went. I was down on myself for not doing the right things early in the race to make it better. I didn’t get to really enjoy the finish because I was hurting so badly.
There are no words for what a great experience I had at Roth. I don’t think there is a better way to do a first 140.6. I kept saying to myself NEVER AGAIN, but I don’t feel like I did the distance justice by not running… This is how the crazy starts isn’t it?..
-End Race Recap 1-
The Pros and Cons of Challenge Roth
-Written by: Brian Connors
Pre-Swim:
Pros
Never a line at the portable toilets
Wood bicycle racks. Good for 58cm bikes because on metal racks you can only pull your bike out from the rear
Uncongested transition area
After 600am music was Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen and American disco blaring through the loudspeakers
Con
Until 6am it was Bach. Not Sebastian Bach. The ominous, suspense-making, make you pee your wetsuit Bach
I couldn’t find water to fill up my bike bottle before the race. Apparently, it was a spigot, which was difficult to translate to English. Otherwise, communication was fine.
Swim:
Pros
Canal swim + closed locks = no current
Sun rising in the east and we’re swimming south. Great sighting for unilateral right breathers.
Lap lane barrier prevented fast swimmers from inching out before the cannon set off every wave. After it went off, it was lifted from the shore and by a boat. Why does Kona have surfers on longboards going back and forth for a world championship when you can see guys pushing past the line?
Thousands of fans on the bridge and down the banks. Thousands.
Hot air balloons hovering over the swim start
Low 70s degree swim
Swim distance markers on the right shore starting at 2200m and then every 300m
Simple out and back with easy sighting. Canal only 100m wide
Cons
Water could’ve been mid 60s?
Everyone swam about 3-4 minutes slower than usual. They do this swim course every year but maybe it was long
Transition 1
Pros
one of the shortest transitions from swim exit-to-bag-to-tent I’ve ever done.
Super easy to find bag, find a seat in the tent and had my very own helper with a 1:10 swim. Busy time in the tent but it went well.
Carpeted exit and room to hop on the bike
Cons
Broke my front zipper on my 1-piece SLTC kit. Stayed open all day. Not very aero.
No strippers? Maybe there was and I didn’t see them (at least that’s what I’m telling Cassia)
Bike
Pros
Germany puts our road surfaces to shame. No potholes, no patchwork to fill in potholes, no manhole covers set 2 inches below street level (that’s you SLC), no gravel. Just buttery smooth black asphalt for 56 miles.
Only saw 5 or 6 American flags on the bike. Not really a pro, just an observation
Very long aid stations every ~10 miles that gave out commemorative Challenge Roth water bottles. Seems like a bit of a waste of plastic but it’s a pro
Stayed overcast all morning.
Zip though 31 villages (twice) on the two loop course. Many of which have people outside partying all day long cheering as you fly by.
Solar Hill. Our tour guide said, “Aim for the center of the inflatable arch because you can’t see the road.” She was right. It is crazy. The thousands of fans are so close I could actually feel the heat coming off their bodies. I just stayed on the wheel of the guy in front of me and took it the noisemakers, whistles, inflatable bangy things, clappers and the indecipherable screaming in foreign languages and loved every second of it.
Many courses get monotonous. Not this one.
Cons
This course is NOT flat. I have no idea how Frodo went so fast last year. It’s a fast-ish 4000ft of climb with switchback decents and tight turns through village roads made for pedestrians. Not really a con.
Hot for this part of Germany. High of 88 with a light drizzle. So very humid as well. Throw in a good crosswind and it made for a tough day.
Course nutrition is ‘Squeezy.’ I don’t know what that is and I’m not trying it.
No special needs bag. Many people were handed bottles from family/friends climbing Solar Hill.
Failed to tighten my seat post screw properly and it slid. Rode about 1.5 inches lower than usual. Quads let me know about that little mistake.
T2
Pro
Another short transition. Not a very short run to the bags and into the tent.
Run
Pros
Changed the run course this year to a more difficult run, but more spectator friendly.
Running through the centuries-old towns of Roth and Büchenbach was amazing. If you didn’t look well, and I didn’t, random people in accented English would walk with you and encourage you to run
Well stocked aid stations. Most would notice the American flag on my bib and begin yelling ‘water’ instead of ‘wasser.’ Same on bike as well
They build a temporary stadium (not to mention enormous tent towns for the pre and post events) for the finish loop.
Thousands of spectators, dancing, pyrotechnics etc. Just a huge party and you can run the final 400m with your family.
Cons
They allow headphones, earbuds etc. on the run. If I’m a spectator trying to cheer people on, and everybody is blasting Katy Perry, they can’t hear me so then what’s the point? I think it detracts from the experience
Not really a con but some hills. Nothing like St. George
Post-race
Pros
Good assortment of food
Short line for a massage
All the beer you can drink (Erdinger beer is one of the biggest sponsors)
Co-ed showers and changing area (seriously) which would’ve felt nice if I hadn’t forgotten clean sneakers and shorts
Went to medical for an Imodium and they said they wouldn’t give it to me unless I got an IV first. Bring it on! That felt great!
Stadium party. The energy you got from that was just unreal. All the athletes had been racing in hot, humid conditions all day, and nearly everyone stays in the stadium until the last person finishes at 11pm with a fireworks show.
Cons
Somehow missed Cassia finishing
Overall
I had the opportunity to share this experience with my wife for her first iron distance was incredible. If anyone is looking for a destination race, this is the one. It is difficult to get in through the lottery but there are spots available through tour companies like TriTravel. We highly recommended them.
-End Race Recap 2-
