Raelert to race Challenge Roth 2011
Kona 2010 runner-up to make his debut at world's fastest Iron-distance race
Challenge Roth today announced Andreas Raelert will line up on the start line for the 10th anniversary of the world’s largest iron distance triathlon on 10 July 2011. He joins a soon to be released field of world-class athletes and is regarded as one of the most successful athletes on the international circuit.
“So far I have missed Challenge Roth in my career so I am extremely glad to have the opportunity to start in the anniversary race of this prestigious event,” he said. “The Challenge brand has earned an excellent reputation around the world and extraordinary results have been reached in this competition within the past few years. I’m sure race director, Felix Walchshöfer, has again put together an extremely strong field of starters this year. I am very proud to be part of them and it’s a great motivation for me.”
During his career he has placed consistently among the top-five athletes in many world-class triathlon competitions, including a second and third at Kona and only two successes are still missing: a victory in Hawaii that has eluded him for so long – and winning the “best old race” in Roth, possibly in a new world record time.
“This year Challenge Roth will be the second big highlight of the season for me after the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii”, said Raelert. “It would be amazing if I could add my name to the list of world-class race winners! I’m sure that in order to win this year in Roth it will again be necessary to break the magic eight hours or even Luc van Lierde’s world-record time of 7:50:27 from 1997. I’m very excited and I’m looking forward to the race!”
Roth race director and Challenge Family CEO, Felix Walchshöfer, said he was proud to announce the participation of the German world-class athlete, “I’m sure Andi Raelert will give everything in Roth! We are really lucky to have the best German athlete take part in our anniversary race, because he is in a position to break Luc van Lierde’s ancient record. Once again triathlon history is in reach at Challenge Roth!”
Challenge Roth is part of the Challenge Family series of races that has grown from just two races in 2007 to 13 over threecontinents in 2011 following the recent announcements of Challenge Cairns in Australia and Challenge Cape Town in South Africa.
“Challenge Family is the original family in triathlon and this exceptional growth wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the athletes,” said Walchshöfer. “We’re delighted not only to be celebrating Challenge Roth’s 10th anniversary but also five years since the Challenge Family grew outside of Germany with the launch of Challenge Wanaka in New Zealand in 2007.”
For further information visit www.challlenge-roth.com.
Matt Baird
Editor of Cycling Plus magazine 
