Race Day 10 Post 1

9:45 a.m. I am here at the airport in Dallas Forth Worth with a 4.5 hour layover so figured I would update you all with what happened last night.

Amid a Mariachi band playing Marcel Heinig of Germany finished the Deca IRON Triathlon with a time of 206 hours 29 minutes – 8 days 14 hours 29 minutes. Jorge had brought out a seven piece band to serenade him as he finished and Marcel was standing at the finish line smiling as Jorge grabbed a chair and told hi to just sit down and enjoy the moment. As he sat down – he closed his eyes and I thought it was all over for him that he had fallen asleep in the chair. He had been going non stop all day to finish as Kari Martens was not far behind. But as that one song finished his eyes opened and he was beaming again.

Marcel is the youngest in the world to finish the Deca IRON at 27 years old. He had a birthday on the first day of the race when everyone swam 24 miles – I forgot to remind Jorge so we could all sing to him. Marcel is also the winner of the IUTA (International Ultra Triathlon Association) point standings.

On his heels, but asleep at the time of his win, was Kari Martens. The two had battled all thru the bike and the run – with Marcel finally catching him of the run and barely holding onto the lead. But you are talking about Marcel being 27 yeas old and Kari being 51 years old. Kari’s wife Petra had told me while we were waiting for Marcel to finish she was impressed and proud of her husband and his accomplishment – stating that due to the competitive battle between Marcel and Kari – pushing each other thru the race – that he was able to compete at that pace –those he was suffering. He has a heel problem that has kept him shuffling along and not able to run. Kari finished with a time of 212 hours and 06 minutes. 8 days, 20 hours, 06 minutes.

I made one last stop by the race course this morning to get a plate of pancakes and a cup of rice pudding and see who was still on the course and say goodbye to my friend Michael Gaertner of Germany who I was crewing for. He was fast asleep on one of the sides of the little bldg along side the road but woke enough to mumble goodbye to me. There were a few people on the course, Gyuri of course was still up and awake – watching/crewing his brother in law Ferenc, who is doing well and should finished third place here soon. I also swiped back my Sirius Satellite system that I brought to hook into Jorge music system so we had COMMERCIAL FREE music and a variety of that. Everyone got used to it so I know they are going thru withdrawals now. Sorry guys.

I will close this out and become one of you – having to go to the results page to see the standing and the blog to see what Alan and Mary have posted. Again this year I enjoyed being around and helping so many athletes, meeting so many new people and being able to help Jorge with his race. Some of the new athletes I have met want to make plans to come to Virginia, if not this year, sometime in the future to participate in that race.

Good luck to all as they still compete.

Kirb