Triathlon
Lucy Charles wins and sets personal best at Challenge Roth triathlon
On a cool summer's day in July, the Challenge Roth triathlon proves (once again) to be one of the world's fastest. Read on to find out how Lucy dominated the day.
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It’s safe to say Lucy Charles-Barclay had one heck of a race at the 2019 Challenge Roth triathlon on Sunday. Not only did she win, but she also grabbed a PB of 08h 31m 09s, managed to hold off the chasing pack by a staggering five minutes and further cemented herself as one of the world’s best triathletes. More so, in a race where anything could happen up until the last 100m, Charles-Barclay was able to also hold off last year’s defending champion (and surprise last-minute entry), Daniela Bleymehl.
“It was worth suffering that much to get the win,” Charles-Barclay said. “I could never really let off, I knew those girls were so close behind me. It wasn’t a perfect day, it was a bit of a suffer fest.”
Last year, Lucy lost the top podium position at Challenge Roth to Bleymehl by nine seconds, so when the reigning champion announced on Thursday (three days before the event) she'd be racing again, Charles-Barclay was pumped to take her on again.
Women’s second-place finisher, Sarah Crowley, finished five minutes behind Charles-Barclay and said, “Lucy was just too good today. It’s a really fast course, and it all brings the best out of you. I loved the crowd.”
Today, all three ladies came in before last year’s finish time and Charles-Barclay’s time was the fourth-fastest women’s time in the race’s history.
A cool day in July
Lucy Charles-Barclay alone on the race course
© James Mitchell/Red Bull Content Pool
The day began early with showers and thunderstorms to the north; however, unlike with other sports, like tennis, rain can be very much welcome during hot summer months. The cooler day, coupled with the fact that Challenge Roth is already one of the world’s fastest triathlon tracks (thanks to virtually no sharp turns and smooth undulating roads), meant the race was incredibly fast from the start.
Charles-Barclay is well known for dominating on the swim course – so much so that people were wondering how many pro men she’d pass despite their three-minute lead time. When she finally touched land, the young Brit was the third fastest swimmer of the race and only 30 seconds off Jesper Svensson, the first male to touch land. From the start gun, she was alone for the day.
“I’m quite used to racing on my own, it’s just a mental game then,” she said. “It helped to catch the men on the swim to give me a little boost [including second-place finisher, Cameron Wurf]. It’s good fun to have them to chase.”
A marathon challenge: Lucy Charles-Barclay powers through 42.2km
© James Mitchell/Red Bull Content Pool
What also helped? The thousands of people cheering her on. With a one to 50 ratio of athletes to spectators, Challenge Roth, is the biggest triathlon in the world.
A stacked roster in the men's
The pro male division was stacked at this year’s race with seriously tight competition as six of the top 10 men from last year’s IRONMAN World Championship raced, including New Zealand’s Braden Currie.
Currie started strong on the chilly summer’s day, having made some serious improvements in his swim and overall training this year. Having just won IRONMAN Cairns in Australia (where he grabbed a PB of 7h 54m 58s) four weeks ago, Currie expected this race to be challenging but rewarding.
“Challenge Roth is a race that I’ve always had on my bucket list. The energy of this event, for an athlete, is second to none and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This will definitely be the ultimate race for me in terms of spectator support. I really enjoy that kind of stimulation around me, as long as I keep it in check and don’t over-do myself.”
Currie started incredibly strong and stayed as close as possible to the first chase pack, always within distance to attack when needed. Famously a strong runner with a solid reputation of speeding past competition on foot, he was in the perfect position to pounce on the leaders.
This is when disaster struck for the Kiwi. Only 18km into the marathon and he began to show signs of stomach issues. Holding sixth position, he slowly began to fall back until he decided it was the safest choice to retire from the race.
Speaking after the race, Currie said: "I had a pretty good swim and I was where I wanted to be. I managed to start the bike ride relatively strong and for a lot of the time held a really good position. I lost a little bit of time towards the end, I think probably to do with racing an Ironman three weeks ago and just not having a good build-up trainingwise. I faded towards the end and started having some stomach issues."
"It wasn't exactly my day," he continued, "but the course was definitely really beautiful. [It] blew me away, it was an amazing atmosphere to race in. I really enjoyed it, other than my own challenges, and I hope to return one day and give it a good crack."
Daniela Ryf wins at Ironman Austria
Meanwhile, just south of Roth, Germany in Klagenfurt, Austria at the IRONMAN Austria event, Swiss World Champion Daniela Ryf took the victory. She finished in 8h 52m 20s, over 26 minutes faster than second-placed Bianca Steurer of Austria. All of this is leading up to an incredibly exciting World Championship event in Hawaii later this year.
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