Roth 2003, one of the magic races of triathlon

The closest Ironman finishes in history

Back then I wrote:

I am a little disappointed that I finished up second, but the hype and news that such a close finish generated has been enormous. Lothar is a fantastic athlete and the King of Roth so I can take some consolation in the fact that I made him earn his title this year.  I have decided that I will return to Roth again next year to go one better and capture the title. I know more about the course now, and I think the German people really warmed to me after the great race we had.

I felt we were running too fast

When I left transition I was 50 seconds down on him. I knew I had some work to do as Lothar is one of the fastest runners in the business. The first 5 miles of the run was just thick with spectators. I think the hype and the atmosphere helped me close the time deficit to Lothar and by mile 7 I had caught him.

We ran together until about mile 11, but I felt we were running too fast. I decided to let Lothar go. He was running strongly, and I knew if I held that pace I would not get to the finish line. Over the next 4 miles Lothar ran 1 minute out of me. I had decided before the race that I was going to really run for home at about the 15 mile mark.

Neck-to-Neck Race with Lothar Leder

Almost 5 years later, I have fulfilled my dreamsfrom from those days. I finished 3 times under 8 hours in Roth and I won Hawaii where have failed almost too many times.
Roth 2003 was the beginning of the German part of my life, a development that I had never expected to occur.

I was 1 minute down on Lothar with 11 miles to run

I got my special needs bag and really started to run well. I was amazed at how quickly I ran the minute back out of him. I think he was very surprised himself, as I caught him at mile 20. Looking back now I should have just gone straight past him and applied the pressure from a long way out.

I thought, I would sit back and wait for a sprint finish, as my superior run speed would be a sure bet. I sat off Lothars shoulder for the remainder of the run and was going to make my attack for home with about 400 metres left to run.

Lothar was slowing the run pace down considerably

I assumed this was just because he was really starting to fatigue. I spoke to him after the race and he told me this was not the case, and that he thought by slowing the run pace down it would force me to take up the running and he could sit off my shoulder and make a surprise run at me for the finish.

With about 500 metres left to run their is a steep incline and it was here that Lothar made his run for home. He caught me by surprise actually, and opened up a two metre gap. For the remaining 500 metres we both sprinted and the gap remained unchanged. The crowd was going beserk, and to Lothars credit he won the event.

He did what all great athletes do, he made the move in the critical section of the race, opened the gap and relaxed at speed.

His strength and experience did the rest and he beat me to the title. In the end only 3 seconds seperated us, making this one of the closet Ironman finsihes in history.