Posted: July 2, 2006

Triathlon: Lawn wins on first time over Quelle Challenge Roth course

New Zealand’s Joanna Lawn turned conventional wisdom on its ear at the Quelle Challenge Roth today, earning a stirring victory in 9:01:17 on her first trip over the storied course, relegating defending champion Belinda Granger of Australia to second some nine minutes back with American Karen Holloway third.

“Amazing place, amazing race—I’m just so happy to be here and to be with everyone,” an exuberant Lawn said at the finish.

Longtime observers at the Quelle Challenge Roth hold that the debut voyage here is usually a learning one, and champions emerge only after they’ve had a chance to master the course’s intricacies. It was so for Granger, who earned her first win here last year after a second-place finish to Germany’s Nicole Leder in 2004.

The race was really a three-woman show for most of the day, with Lawn, defending champion Belinda Granger of Australia and American Karen Holloway, also a newcomer to Roth, battling it out through the swim and bike before the run decided matters.

Lawn, who spent a couple of weeks here training on the course, said the course proved friendly to a first-timer.

“I probably had one of the best teachers—Belinda,” Lawn said of some of the rides she took with Granger. “I just had a good day. It always comes down to the run. In the run you just put one foot in front of the other and keep going, and that’s what I did, and I got to the finish line first.”

In the spirit of friendly competition that marked their day, Granger interjected with a smile: “She makes it sound so easy; believe me, I can tell you it is not.”

The fastest swim belonged to the Czech Republic’s Lucie Zelenkova, in 48:02, who bested traditional swim ace Ute Mückel of Germany, third here last year, by 20 seconds. Holloway was out of the water in 50:49, shadowed by Lawn, with Granger surrendering two minutes in the Main-Donau Kanal. Granger was able to bridge up to Lawn and Holloway by the 45km mark on the bike—and admitted later that might have been too quick: “I think I was a little overzealous trying to catch the girls on the front,” she said.

The trio surged and counter-surged their way over the course’s two loops and signature climbs, with none of the three able to shake the other. Despite challenging winds, especially on the second lap, their times were impressive.

By the close of the bike, the women had all turned in sub-five-hour rides, with Granger posting a 4:54 and Holloway and Lawn a 4:55. “None of us could pull away from each other,” Holloway said. “We’re all competitors and when one would push the other would push and the other would push. And we’re all strong cyclists.”

With Granger, Lawn and Holloway unable to shake one another on the bike, it was always going to come down to the run. The trio headed out within nine seconds of another, dashing out of T2, through town and out into the forest trails and canal pathways. Holloway was the first to lose contact, while Granger and Lawn stayed together for the early kilometers, even entertaining thoughts of finishing together as they fell into lockstep.

“We started thinking, what would happen if we ran the whole way together? Wouldn’t that be cool?” Granger recalled.

“If I could’ve stayed with Jo, we were going to finish hand in hand across the finish line,” she said. “At about the 8km mark she started pull away. She started to feel really good and I started to struggle with the pace.”

Lawn moved ahead and Granger could not answer. She steadily gapped the Aussie, eventually finishing the day with a 3:11 marathon, the day’s second fastest. The top run belonged to Hungary’s Erika Csomor, the former duathlon world champion whose 3:07 marathon moved her into fourth place. Fifth went to Zelenkova.

As a first-timer, Lawn also found herself awestruck by the massive crowds around the course—including on the Solar Berg, where spectators are so deep that there’s room for only one cyclist to pass through at a time.

“I didn’t believe that the Solar Hill could be like that,” she said. “I didn’t even notice that there was a hill. Everything that you’ve ever heard about this race—by far, 11 out of 10.”

The independent Quelle Challenge Roth, the world’s largest long-course triathlon, celebrated its fifth anniversary as an independent race with a massive finish-line party complete with Brazilian samba dancers, fireworks and a live performance from top German singer Joana Zimmer. In all, some 4,000 athletes racing as individual competitors and members of relay teams took on the course today under stellar conditions.

Registration for the 2007 edition of the independent Quelle Challenge Roth opens today online at www.challenge-roth.com. Race day will be June 24, 2007.

Quelle Challenge Roth’s sponsors include: Quelle AG, Deutsche Post AG, N-ERGIE, PRO4, Newline, Nürnberger Nachrichten (Nürnberg Newspapers), Bayrische Versicherungskammer, Erdinger Alkoholfrei, Sparkasse Mittelfranken-Süd, Arndt, Mavic, County of Roth, City of Roth, City of Hilpoltstein, Coca-Cola, Frankenbrunnen, Zeus Copy, Paladin, Hofmann, Jura Kaelte, Guttenberger & Partner, and Spedition Heinloth.

WOMEN’S RESULTS
1) Joanna Lawn (NZL) 09:01:17 (50:56/4:55:59/3:11:21)
2) Belinda Granger (AUS)  9:10:27 (52:25/4:54:21/3:20:34)
3) Karen Holloway (USA) 09:18:00 (50:49/4:55:54/3:28:00) 
4) Erika Csomor (HUN) 9:27:47 (1:01:00/5:15:28/3:07:26
5) Lucie Zelenkova (CZE) 9:32:05 (48:02/5:14:49/3:25:04)
6) Wenke Kujala (GER) 9:34:24 (56:51/5:10:09/3:23:53)
7) Carmenza Morales (COL) 9:38:17 (56:59/5:19:17/3:18:19)
8) Melissa Ashton (AUS) 9:39:49 (52:24/5:16:05/3:19:58)
9) Dagmar Matthes (GER) 9:42:20 (53:25/5:17:04/3:28:29)
10) Susanne Zettl (GER) 9:49:13 (57:58/5:18:05/3:29:28

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