Sorry, this one is only in German….

2. Die ersten Topathleten haben für die Cologne226 in 2010 zugesagt

Wir freuen uns sehr, dass wir 2010 zwei Cologne226 Sieger am Start haben werden! Sowohl Olaf Sabatschus (Sieger Cologne226 2008) also auch Joseph Spindler (Sieger Cologne226 2009) werden am Start sein! Olaf Sabatschus (unter anderem durch diese Erfolge bekannt: 6. Platz Quelle Challenge Roth 2009, 1. Platz Inferno Triathlon (2008), 1. Platz Ironman China (2008), 2. Platz Ironman Brasilien (2008), 1. Platz Ironman Brasilien (2005, 2004)), konnte in diesem Jahr krankheitsbedingt leider nicht auf der Cologne226 angreifen und musste wenige Tage vorher absagen. Die Chance für Joseph Spindler (um nur einige seiner Erfolge zu nennen: 1. Platz OstseeMan (2009, 2008, 2006), 9. Platz Ironman Lanzarote (2009), 8. Platz Ironman Switzerland (2008), 36. Platz (Pro) Ironman Worldchampionchip Hawaii (2007), 2. Platz OstseeMan (2007), 6. Platz Ironman Switzerland (2007)) ohne mit dem Titelverteidiger zu kämpfen ganz oben aufs Treppchen zu steigen.

Aber auch wenn gleich zwei der Cologne226-Sieger wieder am Start sind, heißt das natürlich nicht, dass sich am Ende nicht vielleicht ein Dritter freuen kann. Das könnte z.B. der Kanadier Luke Dragstra sein, der 2009 sehr spontan von der Cologne226 half auf die Cologne226 umgemeldet hat und am Ende den 3. Platz belegte! Aber lassen wir seine Erfolge für ihn sprechen: 1. Platz Auckland Half Ironman (2009), 6. Platz Challenge Wanaka (2009), 9. Platz Quelle Challenge Roth (2009), 12. Platz Half Challenge Barcelona (2009), 12. Platz Half Challenge Kraichgau (2009), 4. Platz Challenge Wanaka (2008), 5. Platz Ironman Malaysia (2008), 5. Platz Challenge France (2008), 1. Platz Challenge Wanaka (2007), 8. Platz Quelle Challenge Roth (2008), und viele weiter Top-Platzierungen!!

Ebenfalls für 2010 zugesagt hat der Kölner Local-Hero Till Schramm (Deutscher Meister Langdistanz Roth AK TM20 (2008), 1. Platz Langdistanz Swim & Run Cologne (2008), NRW-Meister Crosstriathlon (2008), Deutscher Meister U23 Crosstriathlon (2007), 13. Platz Köln Triathlon – CologneClassic (2007), U23 Weltmeister Duathlon (2006), 6. Platz EM Elite Team (2006).

Infos zu unseren Topathleten findet ihr natürlich auch auf unserer Homepage unter Topathleten!

The biggest Bierathlon event in Europe!! We hauled down to Zurich bright eyed a bushy tailed on Saturday morning arriving in plenty of time to scope out the course and plan our race. Not such a simple feat as there are so many variables in such an event, and in the end it really came down to tactics.
As you can see from the pics, we were looking goooooooooooooooooooood and were very ready on many levels to dominate this event.
As far as costumes go, however, we were certainly outdone as you will see on bierathlon.ch when the race pix come out.

Anyway, after a solid warm up in the balmy weather we were on the startline and fired up. We decided to go one lap, without drinking.. uh wait, i will give you run down on the rules and the course first: 5 laps with one drinking zone per lap. Teams of two must drink a total of 10 300ml beers in the drinking zone, without puking or spilling the fluids, pretty straight forward, you can drink the beer whichever lap you want but must be in the drinking zone. We were nicely placed in 4th through the first lap, running very steady, and decided to keep going so as to gain control of the race from the front. We stopped after lap 2 and drank one, and we were still just ahead of a team but they were also one beer ahead. We showed our strength in the last 2 laps as we stayed on one-beer, one lap pace after that. We came the last drink station in the lead with 4 beer in the case. We bottoms-ed up those in good time and crossed the line in around 29min for the 6.85km just edging out another team from Cologne who moved up through the field in Stealth, almost stealing our much much cherished victory, also holding the contents of our stomachs until well within the finish area.
A great show of offseason form and we are proud to join the ranks of Jurgen Zack, Norman Stadler, Steffen Riesen, and Ronnie Schildknecht as Zurich Bierathlon Champions.
A long afterparty followed where you can only imagine the atmosphere.. good times had by all!!
pix to come but you can find some at Magic’s fb page. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38287&id=1433357638 and will be lots on www.bierathlon.ch and on my flickr asap.

Seasons greetings!

oh by the way, i was also at my Coaches lab (Professional Endurance Team) for some testing on Thursay and my offseason form was also verified and training will start to step up in January.

Luke Dragstra in Challenge Copenhagen

Tuesday, 01 December 2009 Written by ChallengeCopenhagen

We promised you charismatic starters in Challenge Copenhagen, and they don’t get more charismatic than Luke Dragstra from Canada! Nobody knows how old – The Dragster or Drags as he is also called – is. His birthday is June 24th, but the year remains a secret. All we now is that he is fast!

This year wasn’t the best of years for Luke until July 12th. At that date Luke raced Challenge Roth and set a PB with 8:13:51 and finished 9th in the strongest field of the entire year. With that time he impressed everybody much more then his pink hair could have done alone. Now everybody is waiting for, what he can do next year, and we are extremely happy that we will find out in Copenhagen!

Situated in Crailsheim (on Team Sport Magicfood.de) near Roth, Luke is a good friend of the Challenge Family. We had a chance to meet him several times this year, and we can guarantee that smiles will be upon every face when he is near, before, during and after the race.

One thing is still uncertain about Luke’s participation in Challenge Copenhagen, which colour will the hair be August 15th 2010? We hope it will be pink, so it will match his bike.
Luke told us that one of the best things about being a pro triathletes, is that he gets to visit so many interesting places around the world. Copenhagen, and the Challenge Copenhagen course will with out a doubt become another favourite. We are really looking forward to welcoming the flamboyant triathlete to Copenhagen in August!

I realized it is time to stop playing journeyman and make a real attack on achieving my career goals. In order to do that you got to be 100% on the start line. The way I have been racing the past years on the road, and doing 4-5-6 IM distance a year, you are always at 85-90% and that is the difference between fighting for wins or trudging in for 5th to 10th or WORSE!

It seems like we can expect a lot more from Luke in 2010 and for Challenge Copenhagen. We are excited to see a 100% fit Luke at the start line in Copenhagen!

Please remember to support The Dragster in raising money for Team Streetkids. For more information on this program please have a look at www.teamstreetkids.wordpress.com