World-beating triathlete Chrissie Wellington, the defending champion at the Challenge Roth, says she'll have her eyes on a fast time but won't be focusing on breaking the world's best time of 8:31:59 she set here last year.
Instead, she will be focusing on going as fast as she possibly can: "What I want to do is: first, I'd like to win the race and I'll try to defend my Roth crown; second, to enjoy the race; and third, I want to go as fast as I can."
"Do I think I can go faster? To go as fast as possible is the aim of the game," the British star said at the media conference for professional athletes racing in at this weekend's Challenge Roth, the world's largest long-course triathlon.
The race's ninth edition is set for Sunday, with more than 3100 individual starters and 607 relay teams from 52 nations. The race will start at 6am, with 12 waves of swimmers heading down the Europakanal to start their journey of a 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride and 42km marathon run.
As athletes put the finishing touches on their training, the city of Roth, which is celebrating its 950th birthday this year, prepared for changes in the run course that will bring athletes on the last 2km of the run straight through the heart of the old marketplace before they reach the finish line, which will be marked out with a 220-meter-long red carpet.
Wellington, a three-time Ironman world champion, thanked the famed tri spectators of Roth in advance for their support. And she said she was looking forward to racing in front of family and friends who have travelled over from Great Britain: "When I race I'm very focused, but the crowd support means so much. It's important for me, but it's also important for the general atmosphere. The more people, the more energy they give us."
To get the win Wellington will have to get past a tough women's field that includes Australia's Rebekah Keat, who was second here last year, Aussie Belinda Granger, now in her seventh year of Roth competition, Roth newcomer Tereza Macel of the Czech Republic (fourth at the Ironman World Championships last year), as well as up-and-coming German Nicole Woysch.
The deep men's field in Roth includes defending champion Michael Goehner of Germany, last year's second-place finisher Pete Jacobs from Australia, German legend and super-cyclist Normann Stadler, a two-time Ironman world champion Denmark's Rasmus Henning (fifth last year at the Ironman World Championships while racing with a broken hand), Spain's Enekeo Llanos (twice second at Ironman Germany and the Ironman World Championships), New Zealand's Richard Ussher, the current Challenge Wanaka champ and a world-class adventure racer, Australia's Chris McDonald (2009 Challenge Wanaka champion) and Belgium's Rutger Beke, third at the Ironman World Championships in 2008. Firefighter Michi Hoffmann is also on hand to defend his world championship crown.
Stadler, for his part, said he too won't be aiming at a world-best time, which for the men remains Luc van Lierde's 7:50:27 set here in 1997: "My personal goal is to deliver the best performance possible. If it's 8:10 or 7:55, for me the time is not that important." He'll be riding a new Scott Plasma 3, currently the time trial bike being used by the Columbia professional cycling squad in the Tour de France.
For more, and for live coverage all day Sunday, visit www.challenge-roth.com.
