The level of excitement rises

The level of excitement rises
Athletic kick-off for the race weekend with “Bambini Run” and “Night Run” 

Some 80 young athletes kicked off the Challenge weekend on Thursday night. At the third “Bambini Run”, not only local kids turned up at the market square in Hilpotstein. The longest trip to get there had some kids from Israel and Dubai.

After the starting signal, everybody followed the mascot, the Green Frog. Sweating in this costume was Marius Schuhmann of La Carrera Triteam Rothsee, who had organized the run together with the city of Hilpoltstein and TEAMCHALLENGE. At the finish line, every child received a certificate and a medal, which had been designed by the kids at the kindergartens in Hilpoltstein.   

Some 80 kids kicked off the triathlon weekend at the “Bambini Run”.
Photo: TEAMCHALLENGE, Christoph Raithel

 

After the kids, it was the grown-up’s turn: Between 300 and 400 runners participated in the traditional “Night Run”. This 11k-long track led from Hilpoltstein to Roth and into the night.

Before the mayor of Hilpotstein, Markus Mahl, together with organizer Matthias Seitz, gave the starting signal for the race at exactly 8:15 PM, host Andreas Gross had some interesting guest to talk to: Kathrin Walchshöfer talked about the press conference which had been held in the morning: Last year’s winner Daniela Ryf announced that she is going for a new world record, which adds excitement to the race. That’s just one of the reasons why Chrissi Wellington wants to be there on Sunday to see what happens to the record she set up in 2011.

To mayor Markus Mahl, the “Night Run” is a warm-up for Sunday’s race. It’s not about records or standings, even though some pretty fit athletes participate. Triathlon makes Hilpotstein and the whole region international: Many people come there, shops and restaurants are busy and there is a great atmosphere.

Also in Thursday’s run was local athlete Rebecca Robisch, who almost made history, participating as a triathlete in the Olympics. By now she is just a hobby athlete and trains for “only” 15 hours each week. But that doesn’t seem to affect her: After just 44 minutes, she was the first woman to cross the finish line in Roth.

On Sunday she will start for a relay team, together with Laura Schwarz, daughter of triathlon legend Hubert Schwarz, who will do the swimming and Steffi Steinberg on the bike. Steffi had recently participated in the “Race across America”.

Before the start, Matthias Seitz of La Carrera Triteam Rothsee thanked the 25 volunteers who made sure that the kick-off went smoothly.

And at the end of the race? There were family, friends and passerbys, who just wanted to see the action, waiting and cheering for the athletes on the last meters.

That’s how sports in the region of Roth are celebrated: If you can’t join, you watch. And you cheer!

Talking about “joining”: The field of starters couldn’t have been more diverse: Ambitious and well-trained long-distance runners next to hobby runners, who meet once a week for a relaxed after-work run. Nevermind – there is room for everyone at the “Night Run”.

Also the wild mix of languages at the finish line makes clear, that this a international gathering of runners. But they are all on the same page about one thing: “A great run, a great course.”

Of course, there was some competition, too. Even if there was no official time-taking. That was replaced by “individual time taking” with the own watch. For the record: The fastest runner finished after 40 minutes and local athlete Robisch was just 4 minutes slower.

Even if it took some a little (or a lot) longer to finish – no problem. There was still applause and cold drinks waiting for them at the finish line.

 

Into the night - between 300 and 400 runners made their way from the market square in Hilpotstein across 11km to the “Triathlonpark” in Roth. 
Photo: TEAMCHALLENGE, Christoph Raithel