AW: >>> Altköniginnen <<<
Hi all, here is my report on the half Ironman in Dessau (Ferropolis). Despite hick-ups, I had a blast:
Irontown Triathlon Ferropolis 06-07 Juni 2009
Halbdistanz (1,9/90/21,1)
Giuseppe D’ Acunzo AK4 – 5:27.27
Dawn Blair SEN2 – 5:37.49
The premier of the Ferropolis triathlon was a mixed bag of goodies. This triathlon takes place over 3 days with the first event taking place on Saturday in the form of a half Ironman followed by the Olympic and Sprint distances on Sunday. This triathlon was advertised on a large scale and the Website looked professional. One would think this would be a highly organized event, but unfortunately there were just too many fundamental errors that should not occur on such a big and expensive event. To name a few: Championship chip without the chip band. Athletes had to compromise with sticky tape and “Klettband” that rubbed open wounds on ankles
. A pasta party that you had to pay extra for. Nowhere for athletes to sit (even in the pouring rain). Not enough escort boats or life savers on the swim. No toilets on the run. No kilometer markers on the run. Ran out of water on one of the two water stations on the run. No drinks or food in the finish area other than Erdinger alcohol free bier. And to top it all for 90 Euro you did not even get a finisher T-shirt although they asked for your T-shirt size. Positive points: Great location, great announcers and good swim, bike and run courses.
On Saturday the weather was cold and extremely windy, but thankfully it did not rain until both Giuseppe and I had finished. The water was 16 degrees and very choppy. We both decided to put dry clothes on after the swim and I have never spent so much time in the changing area as I did in Ferropolis. My feet were like blocks of ice and I could not even get them into my cycling shoes and I won’t even mention trying to get my triathlon top on. The remaining sand on my feet was to come back to haunt me later on the run. After about 10 minutes (no joke) I got onto my bike. The bike course was flat, but the wind unforgiving. After 1:50 and a 32 kilometer average (yippee), I had finally thawed out. The change to the run was just as akward as the first change. Where were the toilets, I was busting for a pee and as there were no toilets had to relieve myself to the amusement of many in the grass along the run course
(believe me I was not the only one). The run went well despite spraining my ankle on Thursday, which left a question mark if I would even be able to start
. Unfortunately, the sand rubbed a large blister on my foot,
but that is triathlon for you! My run time (I can't believe it) was a 1:48
All in all a great weekend with friends.
