Posted: July 3, 2004

Triathlon: American favorite, Lovato, brings sunshine to breakfast

NÜRNBERG/HIPOLSTEIN, Germany (July 2, 2004) – World-class professional triathlete, the United States’ rising star with a sunshine smile, Michael Lovato, today hosted an age-groupers’ question-and-answer breakfast with destination race travel group The Triathlon Experience, at their host hotel, a very traditional Bavarian gastehaus, Zum Schwarzen Ross, along the historic, famous Quelle Challenge Roth triathlon racecourse, in Hilpolstein. It was an opportunity for the athletes to de-stress a bit, enjoy rubbing elbow’s with one of triathlon’s best, and even get some nutrition and race pointers before they race the 3.8-km swim, 180-km bike and 42.2-km run this coming Sunday.

“It does feel different (in Roth), I actually feel a lot less like I’m at a race that I’m used to because of the lack of people that I know. You typically see a lot of vendors, athletes, sponsors that you know,” said Boulder-based Lovato. “You see David Greenfield of Elite Bicycles, but you don’t see the rest regular crowd. That’s great that he’s stepping out from the crowd, this is big-time.” Still, he noted, “I’ve been here a week, and everyone’s been so great and friendly and welcoming, I have people that I recognize and now I get stopped two or three times to talk to people each time I’m here at the Festplatz.”

How hard will it be for him to race the Germans on their home course? “Here, the biggest disadvantage that I have is lack of familiarity with the course, and the language difference. In this week’s time, I’ve made sure to go out and learn every section of the bike course and run course,” Lovato explained. “Generally, where I’ve had success, I’ve been alone most of the time and worked my way up to have a better second half of the bike and second half of the run. I’ve had to change my style of racing, because I’ll have to work hard to be at the front. It’s more of an experiment, as I’ve never raced this way and something I’ve got to try.”

Just as he and a few of the others in the low-eights crowd said at the news conference, this gutsy Challenger said, “the level of competition and the course itself is setting us up for fast times and a good hard race, and I think we need to exploit that opportunity. You have folks that will be a little ahead on the swim, but for faster bikers and runners, but we should push each other and have a good time. Maybe some people will blow up and others won’t.”

The age-groupers were also interested in knowing about his nutrition plan, what will be offered on the bike and run, and for some advice. “For the most part, the seemed pretty confident in their own plans so that was great. I’ve experimented a lot over the past years of Ironman racing, and we talked about one of the guy’s needs,” he said. “Everyone seemed to be pretty relaxed and they seemed to be having fun. One woman asked if her daily Nutella spread on croissants for breakfast would affect her race.” Ah, the breakfast of German champions only? Lovato is admittedly a hasselnuss-und-chokolade junkie and known to clean the jar, but he won’t have it for his pre-race breakfast.

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.

From Steve Handwerker, slhcomm@hotmail.com.