Wiesbaden, October 2006.
Back home after a wonderful and exciting stay on Big Island, Hawaii! I just jumped off the plane. Still with my eyes burning and my body aching, I try to get focused again.
IRONMAN race day was as every year a strenuous day: waiting, guessing who is in the lead, the commentary as bad as ever, therefore we along the race course finally desperately calling those back home who were as usually better informed via internet, we, sweating, cueing in front of restrooms, running to spot our athletes as often as possible, trying to gain entrance and get a glimpse of those whom we wanted to wish good luck or at the end of the day wanted to congratulate - in vain, waiting again. And at the end of the day all spectators were unified by a strange feeling of exhaustion without racing…

The race results were as every year, not as expected. Chris McCormack could not win the race, Faris, couldn’t either. It was Normann Stadler who made it with an extraordinary performance, congratulations.

Chris, who had an oustanding run, but could not catch up with Normann, crossed the finisher line 71 sec. after him. Chris said after the race: »I am disappointed! But today, I couldn’t have beaten him, he was too good.«

It is sad that only winning counts. Second place means nothing. Thus, Chris’ appearance in  David Letterman’s show got cancelled by his sponsor Under Armour http://www.underarmour.com/macca/.

Chris McCormack, Macca, has and wants to try again next year. By the way, Chris races with biestmilch since 2003. Find Chris McCormack e-cards on http://www.biestmilch.com.

Even more disappointing was the race for Uwe Widmann and Alexander Taubert. They were not able to achieve their goals, a place among the first ten. The IRONMAN championship is a volatile race. One might guess whether this is the case because the world’s best triathletes are all there or/and(?) is it because the gods of the island  have a finger in the pie?