Yo, this weekend in Bahrain the ME 70.3 Championships were held. stacked field with plenty of the who’s who in Ironman triathlon, lots of money and KPR points up for grabs. It was the first time that the WTC held a race over here.

I went into the race well prepared and off the back of my first 70.3 victory in Dubai a couple of weeks earlier. Also one of my LB Training team mates, Christian Hoerper from Germany, came to Bahrain. I was happy to see a team mate again after some time.

the race itself was a blast. the organisers made the right decision in cancelling the swim as it was way too dangerous. when are we ever gonna have regular weather on race day? but, hey, it is an outdoor sport everybody has to be able to adapt to the weather.

it was cut down to bike run, with a start from the swim exit onwards to the bikes. onto the bikes, the course was pretty much the same than last year with some minor changes.

let me say this: it was one of the hardest rides I ve had. the high winds from WNW meant wind from behind over the right shoulder. I clocked over the 90k 2:01:45 I think with almost 45kph avg with ca 300 310 watts, most parts of the high way it was 57 58 54, I topped out at almost 70kph on the flat. absolutely crazy but a lot of fun. it is misconceiving to believe that because the wind helps, you have to do less work and can salvage the legs. well that’s wrong, in contrary there is no place to hide. Bart Aernouts had a 1:56:00. amazing.

on the run the carnage continued. I got off the bike together with Ben Hoffman and Alberto Molins, and we set off on the runcourse with quite high pace and butted heads, but no one could really move or break away. They improved the run course also by keeping it more in the F1 area which I think is better although it is a bit more cornery and more de- and accelerations. at the end, I managed a 1:19:00 semi marathon and felt happy with that result given the fact that it was partially super wind on the run course as well.  Just like DIT, the wind here also influenced the run.

crossed the finish line in 13th overall, just overtaking Richie in the end and about a minute or so behind Ben. So many great athletes racing this weekend that I am quite satisified with the result, but still have for improvement of course. also, got some good good kpr points. congrats to my team mate Christian, who got 7th. so proud of you dude. well done. 🙂

story of the weekend of course, Daniela Ryf, absolutely blasting it and taking home the million bucks. It is not so much about the money but the fact that she is unbeaten in almost 2.5 years over pretty much any distance. She is humble and calm and down to earth as well. great athlete.

also good stuff from the Bahraini guys. HRH Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad al Khalifa once again pulling out all the stops. Bahrain just rocks, dude.

now time to prepare for some new challenges and see you out there.

🙂

o dawg