Posted: January 28, 2004

Triathlon: Show Down in Forster Town...

Forster-Tuncurry, April 4, 2003

On July 6, 2003 the town of Roth in Germany held the biggest participation ultra-distance triathlon in the world, the famous Quelle challenge. Two supreme athletes went head to head all day in what would become one of the closet Ironman-distance events in history. Just three seconds would separate Germany's Lothar Leder and Australia's Chris McCormack at the end of a day that lasted over eight hours.

Lothar Leder used his experience of over 10 years of Ironman racing and showed incredible strength to out-sprint McCormack with just a few hundred metres to go.

"I tried to attack twice in the course of the marathon, but Chris was able to catch up both times, so the race turned out very exciting for the spectators (and) for us as well," said Leder. At a hard left hand turn in the course with about 200 metres to go, Leder made his final move.

After the race, McCormack spoke of that pivotal moment in the race. "As we made the sharp left turn he took the inside, (and) went from the right to the left side. I said, 'damn, he's got the inside.' I was right behind him, but it was his lead. It came down to tactics."

Leder then burst into the stadium for the final few metres of the race. The capacity crowd in the stands went wild for their home country's hero as he out sprinted Aussie McCormack to seal the fate of their 8hr 11min 50sec 'day at the office'.

On April 4, 2004 in Forster-Tuncurry, the stage is set for one of the biggest re-matches in Ironman history at the Snap Ironman Australian triathlon, when McCormack and Leder will again be pitted against one another. Like any good movie, there is always a sequel and this time the battle ground will be on McCormack's home turf, the race he has won twice in convincing fashion. McCormack feels he owns this course and it is only fitting the "Show Down" will play out in Australia.

The tactics at Snap Ironman Australia on April 4 may be different to those used in Germany, with McCormack's off-the-front attack of the past two years working successfully for him at Forster. The strong swimmer and cyclist enjoyed a 10-minute lead coming into the second transition last year. However, Leder, one of the most accomplished Ironman athletes in the world (a five-time Quelle Challenge winner and numerous top 10 Hawaii Ironman finisher) and a brilliant tactician will be sure not to give McCormack a lead of that magnitude.

One thing is for sure, the "Show Down in Forster Town" will be one of the most anticipated races in the history of Ironman Australia since the Peter Reid and Chris Legh duals of 1998 and 1999.

The race website is at: www.ironmanoz.com.