Triathlon: Quelle Challenge Roth partners with Air Canada

NÜRNBERG/ROTH, Germany (April 12, 2004) – The world’s largest iron-distance triathlon, Quelle Challenge Roth, recently announced its new partnership with Air Canada to provide special discounted fares for the July 4, 2004, event’s athletes, spectators and business partners. Race management also appointed Apollo Travel Management as its preferred travel planner in North America.

North Americans traveling to Quelle Challenge Roth may simply contact Air Canada toll-free, at (800) 361-7585 and (514) 393-9494, and use the Quelle Challenge Roth convention number, CV042497, and note their final destination is Nürnberg (Nuremberg). They may also contact Quelle Challenge Roth's preferred travel agent in North America, Amela Zuljevic, at Apollo Travel, amela@travelapollo.com, (800) 500-8415 and (312) 334-3748. Zuljevic can service the discount code and search for the best fare and schedule regardless of the carrier.

To date, 10 Canadian and 35 American athletes – including some FDNY firefighters, at least 50 North American spectators and Challenge Roth business partners such as Elite Bicycles, Inc., of Philadelphia, will make the pilgrimage to historic Roth, which will this year celebrate 20 years of triathlon.

“Roth is the most glamorous event in European racing, and it’s known across the world as a five-star race,” says David Greenfield, president of Elite, an American-made, high-end bike frame manufacturer. “We already feel comfortable there just because of the way they (race management) do business.”

Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics triathlete Sheila Taormina (USA) led that race for two laps on her Elite and plans to do so again in Athens. Sydney 2000 triathlete and Athens hopeful Ryan Bolton (USA) now rides one. Pro triathlete Yoko Okuda (JPN), 2002 Ironman Japan champion, will race hers at Challenge Roth. Says Greenfield, “we’re going to support our German dealers and pro and amateur triathletes racing there in any way we can. Plus, our German intern recently returned home and this is a great opportunity to work with him again and see his country.”

The famous Roth course is home to the current men and women’s iron-distance triathlon (3.8 km swim/180 km bike/42.2 km run) world records, set by Belgium’s Luc van Lierde (7:50:27, 1997) and Zimbabwe’s Paula Newby-Fraser (8:50:53, 1994), respectively. It’s also known for its chicanes through small towns and hilly, Bavarian countryside, and 100,000 raucous spectators.

Herbert Walchshöfer, president, TEAMChallenge GmbH, anticipates this year’s race will see about 2,100 individual athletes and 550 relay teams, for a total of about 3,750 athletes – it would be the largest field ever. The race also encompasses the 2004 Long Distance Triathlon World Championship for Firefighters. More than 100,000 spectators are expected on race day, and 35,000 visitors at the four-day expo, to be held in the newly named, redesigned Triathlon Park, in downtown Roth, a city of 24,000 people about 30 km south of Nürnberg.

Quelle AG, the race’s title sponsor, is Europe’s largest mail order retailer. For years, athletes, media and spectators have often called the race “Quelle,” even when its title was Quelle Ironman Europe and now Quelle Challenge Roth. Sports such as tennis and golf have events known by simply by their sponsors’ names, but elsewhere this is unprecedented. Since the beginning of this 13-year relationship, neither Quelle nor race management imagined the name would stick so well, or that the bond, here, would be so strong.

Quelle Challenge Roth’s sponsors include: Quelle AG, Deutsche Post AG, N-ERGIE, DB Regio, Phillips, Erdinger Alkoholfrei, Sparkasse Mittelfranken-Süd, ADAC, Arndt, Recaro, PowerBar, County of Roth, City of Roth, City of Hilpolstein, Coca-Cola, Frankenbrunnen, Zeus Copy, Paladin, Hofmann, Jura Kaelte, Lorenz & Partner, INKO Energy, Flor & Sohn, Spedition Heinloth, and BIESTMILCH.

For more information on the July 4, 2004, Quelle Challenge Roth and Triathlon Festival, or to participate in the on-line forum, and to receive the event’s newsletter, please visit www.challenge-roth.com.