Already last year, when Sebastian was unfit and didn’t race, I had made the commitment to travel to St. George in 2016. Sebastian had been unlucky in this race for 3 years, but he loves the hard course and Utah’s wilderness. So he came back again. This year he wanted to finally succeed. Of course, he came to win, but was not unhappy with his 2nd place. The fitness is there and is still improving, and big races are yet about to come. So no reason to sing the blues! Especially not for me and my team as the weekend has been so super successful for all triathletes connected with us.
Let’s begin with the amazing results for BIESTMILCH on the last weekend.
Andi Boecherer is the new King of Buschhütten 2016, an Olympic distance triathlon with a long history and for years the kick-off competition of the German triathlon season.
Henning von Poser on Facebook won his age group 45 in Buschhütten.
Yvonne van Vlerken collected another 1st place at IRONMAN 70.3 Rimini.
Rebecca Fondermann was fastest age grouper, won her age group and became 9th over all at IRONMAN 70.3 Pays D’Aix.
Last but not least Sebastian Kienle came in 2nd at the IRONMAN 70.3 North American Championships in St. George, Utah. Only Lionel Sanders was faster.
Congratulations to all of you and thank you for supporting our cause!
And now follow some impressions from our voyage.
St. George, Utah is definitely worth the trip – the journey in pictures
This time I traveled with Patricia, my dear assistant over many years.
We took off from Vienna at 4:30pm, had a stopover in Chicago and from there we flew into Las Vegas. At the end of a long day, on which you lose your relation to time completely, a drive of 2 seemingly endless hours to St. George awaited us.
At around 10:00pm with a time lag of 8 hours to Europe we arrived at our hotel. St. George, at this time of the day, was already deeply asleep. The same applied to us not much later.
On the next day we screened the area, I tried to actualize my memory of the location as fast as possible and we picked up our road bikes. The weather was still nice and warm. But the forecast already prepared us for a rainy and chilly weekend. The afternoon was busy with the meet and greet at the IRONMAN village. We touched base with Sebi who was definitely in a good mood and in solid shape.
A quick trip to the Sand Hollow Reservoir – the place of the swim start – ended our day.
On the Friday before the race we were riding through the Snow Canyon, for us a demanding but enchanting excursion.
The race day was exactly the way race days are, if the weather is volatile and chilly. One is tensed and stressed, wet and freezing.
But the happy end compensated for the sufferings ;-)… I was really relieved that Sebastian didn’t struggle with his 2nd place, but was content with his performance.
Sunday was our day off. We headed for the Zion National Park, a must, if you once have the opportunity to travel to Utah. It is breath-taking, a rough landscape that makes you think about the very beginning of our earth.
Monday we started our return trip home.
Before we dropped the car at the airport, we took a quick drive through Las Vegas. What a contrast after the National Park, crazy world we live in.
Long hours of sitting were ahead of us. When it comes to sitting I am not very patient! Tuesday late afternoon we arrived in Vienna. To summarize, it was a short but intense journey with ever lasting memories.
*The word “Dixie” refers to privately issued currency originally from the Citizens State Bank (located in the French Quarter of New Orleans) and then other banks in Louisiana. These banks issued ten-dollar notes, labeled “Dix”, French for “ten”, on the reverse side. The notes were known as “Dixies” by English-speaking southerners, and the area around New Orleans and the French-speaking parts of Louisiana came to be known as “Dixieland”.
