Posted: July 1, 2004

Triathlon: ChallengeLive.com and Tri2b.com provide LiveTicker coverage again for July 4th race

NÜRNBERG/ROTH, Germany (July 1, 2004) – Quelle Challenge Roth, the world’s largest ultra-distance triathlon (3.8 km S/180 km B/42.2 km R), with 3,700 athletes and 100,000 spectators to line the course this coming Sunday, recently launched its redesigned live, race-day website, www.ChallengeLive.com, and its main site, www.Challenge-Roth.com, for faster “LiveTicker” service, page loading and downloads, and a cleaner, fresh look. Now in its second year of partnership with the race, Meditos GmbH, publisher of www.Tri2b.com, the world’s leading, German-language multisport e-zine, will update ChallengeLive.com’s race coverage text and photos simultaneously with what’s happening on the 226-km (140.6-mi) swim-bike-run course. The free “LiveTicker” text, photos and video service will be available in German, English and French.

“The team from Tri2b.com will report live from hot spots all along the course, from the start to the finish line,” said Harald Eggebrecht, Tri2b.com journalist and ChallengeLive.com team leader. They’ll also receive reports from race management’s spotters and public relations team who will follow key athletes throughout the day. “We will offer live-stream video from the course, with interviews from a number of triathlon experts, including world-class athletes,” Eggebrecht noted.

Alex Taubert (GER), who was supposed to start this Sunday in Roth but was hit by a car on a recent training ride, will provide commentary alongside Tri2b.com editor Jens Richter on the top pros as they race. University of Erlangen’s video team, a frontrunner in medical surgery broadcasting worldwide, will provide race video for the second year in a row. Shortly after the race, Tri2b.com will publish complete race stories, including interviews with the winners and other top athletes. A results board will also be provided.

In 2003, 1.6 million viewers read the QCR LiveTicker and watched the web cam coverage on race day. Over a 10-day period beginning with race day, 5.5 million viewers visited www.ChallengeLive.com. Additionally, all of the leading triathlon and multisport on-line news sources covered the race, and more than 100 websites featured Quelle Challenge Roth post-race articles. More than 160 newspapers ran coverage for their 88,474,500 readers, 11.1 million television viewers watched some of the four hours of race-day coverage on at least one of the 14 domestic and international television stations, including 30 minutes of live coverage in Germany. Every major multisport print magazine worldwide ran stories and photographs, as well.

Quelle Challenge Roth’s sponsors include: Quelle AG, Deutsche Post AG, N-ERGIE, DB Regio, Opel AG, Newline, Nürnberger Nachrichten (Nürnberg Newspapers), Bayrische Versicherungskammer, Maxim, 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, Deutsche Triathlon Union (DTU) ultra-distance International German Championship and Long Distance Triathlon World Championship for Firefighters, the on-line forum and the event’s newsletter, visit www.challenge-roth.com and www.challengelive.com.