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Israeli Victory at Israman Negev in Eilat
By Konrad von Allmen
2/4/2010 |
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A new star is born at the Israeli triathlon sky: Gilad Rotem! After very good results last year at Ironman Austria and after winning his age group in Hawaii he smashed the old course record by 33 minutes. One reason for the fast time was, compared to previous years, the much better conditions with hardly any wind. The quite strange bike and run course and the normally tough climate are making the Israman one of the most challenging long distance races in the world. Gilad Rotem got on quite well with the conditions, took the lead already during the swim and won his first Israman in 9h25’. Still under his own old course record came the defending champion Konrad von Allmen from Switzerland. Third became Sebastian Hauer from Germany.
An incredible performance showed the fastest woman. Rookie Nina Pakirma from Israel ran away in her very first long distance race and left with 10h36’ even most of the male competitors behind her.
The 11. edition of the Israman meant also an increase of participants. Twice as many athletes raced in the full and the half distance, compared to last year. There were already around 30 foreign athletes, most of them from Germany and the USA. The feedbacks were similar from all sides: “original, back to the roots of triathlon, very friendly people, big friendship under athletes, very tough, huge adventure, beautiful course!”
Another story was written by US-citizen Sean Stringer. During the last 365 days the man from Chicago raced in 23 Ironman distances. Only two races he couldn’t finish so far (IM China and France). Unfortunately he couldn’t make it in Eilat. The climate and technical problems forced him to drop out. With his action, racing at as much Ironman as possible within one year, he wanted to try the impossible and to promote his non-profit-organization onegoodthought.org to support children. Despite the failure in Eilat with 20 finishes he could beat the old record (14 Ironmen in one calendar year) clearly.
Race director Yossi Melman showed satisfaction for the development of his race. Improvements were made with logistics and information. The doubling of the participants from 200 to nearly 400 was the reward for that. The triathlon world in Israel got a real boost in the last year, also thanks to the success of Gilad Rotem. Membership in the existing and new triathlon clubs are increasing and the performance of the Israeli athletes got to a remarkable higher level within one year. Maybe we will soon hear about a new guy in Kona?
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