Ironman Europe

Ironman Europe
venue	Roth Germany
First run	1988
Last event	2001
organizer	World Triathlon Corporation
Records
distance	3.86 km 180.2 km 42.195 km
track record	Men: 7:50:27 h, 1997 Luc Van Lierde   Women: 8:50:53 h, 1994 Paula Newby-Fraser

The Ironman Europe was a Triathlon over the Ironman as distance (3.8 km swim, 180 km bike and 42 km run) and found 1,988 to 2,001 annually in Roth ( Bayern ) instead. The race has been called Challenge Roth since 2002 .

History and organization

In Central Franconia Roth since the mid-1980s triathlon events were held annually, its name and distances were different:

year	designation	Distances	Winner men	Winner women
1984	Franconian triathlon	700 m swimming, 40 km cycling and 10 km running	Franz Michels	Maureen Farley
1985	Bavarian Triathlon Championship	2 km swimming, 79 km cycling and 20.5 km running	Dirk Aschmoneit	Hanni Zehendner
1986	DTU International German Championship Middle Distance	2.5 km swimming, 100 km cycling and 25 km running	Dirk Aschmoneit	Alexandra Kremer
1987	ETU middle distance European championship	3 km swimming, 92 km cycling and 20 km running	Glenn Cook	Sarah Coope

Dirk Aschmoneit and Alexandra Kremer , German championship middle distance 1986

Bonnie Barton, the winner Rita Keitmann and Heidi Nielsen (from left to right) at the first edition in 1988

Subsequently, the major Ironman event , which regularly attracted more than 100,000 spectators, was organized by Detlef Kühnel , who in 1982 was the first German to contest the Ironman Hawaii together with Manuel Debus . In 1988, the first Ironman distance competition in Germany was held in Roth . It was the fourth race (after New Zealand, Japan and Canada) that enabled qualification for the World Championship at Ironman Hawaii.

In addition, the Rothsee Triathlon has been held in the area since 1989 every year at the end of June (two weeks before the Challenge Roth ) , the swimming course of which is in the eponymous Rothsee .

When more than 4,000 athletes registered in the 1990s, the number of participants was limited to 2,700, which led to many cancellations.
Due to this great popularity by mostly German triathletes, it can also be explained why Germany has the third most triathletes at the Ironman in Hawaii after the USA and Australia .

In 2001 Detlef Kühnel no longer extended the license agreement with the World Triathlon Corporation .
Since 2002, the follow-up triathlon event Challenge Roth (2002 to 2009 officially Quelle Challenge Roth ) has been held at the same place and also via the Ironman distance , but this does not offer any qualification opportunities for Hawaii. From 2003 to 2010, the German long-distance triathlon championships were held eight times in Roth .

Records

The first participant under eight hours was Lothar Leder in 1996 with his winning time of 7:57:02 h.

At the Ironman Europe in Roth world best times were set for both men and women:

• Women: 1994 Paula Newby-Fraser , 8:50:53 h (the current world best time was also set in Roth by Chrissie Wellington in July 2011 )
• Men: 1997 Luc Van Lierde , 7:50:27 h (the current world record was also set in Roth by Jan Frodeno in July 2016 )

Winners list

Men

Women

Date / year First place Second place third place 0July 8, 2001 Lothar leather -3- Andreas Low Cameron Brown 0July 9, 2000 Lothar leather -2- Thomas Hellriegel Andreas Low June 27, 1999 Jürgen Zäck -5- Thomas Hellriegel Andreas Low July 12, 1998 Jürgen Zäck -4- Lothar leather Andreas Low July 13, 1997 Luc Van Lierde (SR) Jürgen Zäck Lothar leather July 14, 1996 Lothar leather Rainer Müller-Hörner Jan van der Marel 0July 9, 1995 Jürgen Zäck -3- Thomas Hellriegel Lothar leather July 10, 1994 Jürgen Zäck -2- Péter Kropkó Rainer Müller July 10, 1993 Cristián Bustos Jürgen Zäck Péter Kropkó July 11, 1992 Jos Everts Ray Browning Roy Hinnen July 13, 1991 Pauli Kiuru -2- Mark Coke Jürgen Zäck July 14, 1990 Pauli Kiuru Péter Kropkó Ken Glah June 24, 1989 1 Jürgen Zäck Axel Koenders Roy Hinnen July 30, 1988 Axel Koenders Dirk Aschmoneit Micha Schuler

year First place Second place third place 2001 Nina Kraft Gina Kehr Nicole leather 2000 Heather Fuhr Lisa Bentley Ute Mückel 1999 Joanne King Nina Kraft Ute Mückel 1998 Katja Schumacher Susan Latshaw Melissa Spooner 1997 Susan Latshaw Suzanne Nielsen Katja Schumacher 1996 Ute Mückel Lauren Alexander Lori Bowden 1995 Paula Newby-Fraser -3- Katinka Wiltenburg Susan Latshaw 1994 Paula Newby-Fraser -2- (SR) Susan Latshaw Katinka Wiltenburg 1993 Katinka Wiltenburg Ada van Zwieten Susanne Gotze 1992 Paula Newby-Fraser Thea Sybesma Krista Whelan 1991 Thea Sybesma Jan Wanklyn Irma Zwartkruis 1990 Jan Wanklyn Elke Oetermann Ada van Zwieten 1989 1 Simone Mortier Elke Oetermann Ghita Jarlström 1988 Rita Keitmann Bonnie Barton Heidi Nilsen

¹ no Ironman distance: In 1989 there was only one shortened race that only ran over half the Ironman distance (2.5 km swimming, 93 km cycling and 22 km running).

→ For the winners of the follow-up event of Challenge Roth, see there .

• Swimming start of the first group of participants at Ironman Europe 1990
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Web links

Commons : Ironman Europe  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Results of the Ironman Europe Roth 1988-2001

Individual evidence

1. ↑ special supplement Challenge Roth 2011 in the regional editions Hilpoltsteiner Roth-Volkszeitung , Hilpoltsteiner newspaper and the weekly Wochenanzeiger the Nürnberger Nachrichten , July 8, 2011, p 26
2. ↑ The Triathlon History of Germany - Part 3: 1986-88
3. ↑ Ironman Media Guide 2010 (PDF)
4. ↑ runtri.com , statistics Ironman Hawaii 2012
5. ↑ Avia Ironman Europe, Official Results List, Roth 1989 (PDF; 4.4 MB) June 30, 1989. Archived from the original on December 7, 2013. Retrieved on July 13, 2011.