Yvonne van Vlerken holding the inofficial world record on the Ironman distance
Yvonne van Vlerken, born in Netherlands on November, 5, 1978, belongs to the worldwide 3 athletes only that finished the IRONMAN distance under 9 hours. Moreover, she won all 3 Ironman races she was racing in until today. We don't want to list her outstanding result here in this place. You can take this information from her website www.yvonnevanvlerken.org.
We prefer to quote her with sentences that tell us a lot about her personality:»I want to get the best out of myself. I don't want to waste the talents I have got. I would like to be an example for others, not only in sports, but also with my views on the world, with my view on the problems of this world. I want to help those who have not been so lucky to recieve so much positive energy as I have got it.« Yvonne lives now with her partner in Vorarlberg, Austria.
Just recently I got the following lovesome email from Yvonne. It is in German that we did not correct, because the way she expresses herself tells a lot about her likeable character.
»Ich möchte dich gerne erzählen und darum schreibe ich dich auch, das ich mir noch nie in mein Leben so Gut gefühlt habe, es geht mir unglaublich gut und die Training geht fast von selbe :-) Das lätste ist natürlich ein Witz aber often spürt das wirklich so!
Ich schau auch ganse gut aus (finde ich selbst..) und ich habe das gefühl das ich besser regenarier ( entschüldigüng ich weiß nicht wie ich das schreibe muß, aber du verstehst mir denke ich schon).
Ganse Stolz lauf ich herum mit meine schöne Biestmilch Badenkappe und binn jetzt ganse sicher das dein Produkt wirklich Super ist!«
Approximate translation: »I would like to tell you and this is also why write this mail, that I never in my life felt so good, I am incredibly well and training runs so smoothly, by itself :-) This sound like a joke, but I fell this way.
And I look good (at least I find it) and I have this feeling that I recover much better (sorry, I don't know how to spell this, but I think you understand what I mean).
Proudly I wear the biestmilch swim cap and now I am sure that biestmilch is super.«
With shoe size 36 leaves her competitors
In 2008 was Yvonne's first start in Hawaii and she succeeded to become second already. This year Frankfurt, Ironan European championship, and Hawaii, the world championship on the Ironman distance are her climax of the racing season 2009.
Yvonne is a very precise girl. She trains hard and leads a very disciplined an dwell organized life. She says, that she need that. She has to know everything about a race, about the course. Yvonne does not like surprises. She is the the complete contrary to world champion Chris McCormack.
If you mention the size of her feet she smiles: »Yes, it is not easy to find shoes for me, especially bike shoes. They have to make them for me.«
Yvonne comes from duathlon, and there she is world class already for many years. Swimming she onl dicovered when she started with triathlon. It is still the discipline that scares her a little bit. Not so the bike and the run, she knows she is good and she is very self-confident. As a whole Yvonne is more a withdrawn and almost shy person with a wonderful sense of humor.
