When I've answered 'Roth', more often than not the very next question is ‘What is that?’  Roth is a small town about 40km south of Nuremberg, in Germany, and the destination of Europe's first every Ironman event.  Why the triathlon held there annually is not splashed all over the current Ironman sites relates to the fact that it’s no longer run under the Ironman brand.  One of the first 2 Germans to race at IM Hawaii was Detlef Kuhnel in 1982, a Roth local.  In 1984 he organised a short distance race in Roth and this graduated, in 1988, to the 1st Ironman Germany Race in Roth with the winner setting a world record time over the Ironman distance at the time. The race ran under the auspices of Ironman until 2001 when the organisers parted company with the Ironman brand.  During that time the race saw some super fast finishes with Luc v Lierde setting (and still holding) the world record of 7:50.27.

Since 2002 the race has been run by the Challenge organisation with Quelle as the front line sponsor of the event.  This parting of ways resulted in Ironman Germany moving to Frankfurt and has given the Challenge organisation more flexibility in terms of how they run their race.  The most obvious difference being that on the day more than 4,000 competitors race as both individual and relay entrants, such is the popularity of the race vs the 2000 odd that race at IM events.  Chris McCormack has appeared here every year since 2003, winning them all except this year where he pulled out of the race part way into the ride with some excuse about doing Ironman Germany the weekend before……some people.

So, how does it compare to an Ironman race?  Well one change they haven't made is the distance, so you're still going to have to do the full 2.4m /112m /26.2m sorry.  The Challenge organisation has a point to prove since dropping the IM brand and this they do ably.  Entry fees are cheaper with no degradation in standards.  Replenishments points are every 17km on the bike and the wave start all but eliminates the usual argy bargy during the swim.  It's difficult to gauge how good the organisation of the event was compared to IM as for 2008 the heavens threw it down on race day but despite this I could think of no real complaints, my own or from others.  The pre race expo is superb with bike porn in abundance and race day brought little or no queuing for toilets (we all know how important that is).  They said there would be more than 150,000 spectators on the course, I didn't believe them.  When I saw it was raining I thought there wouldn't be a single brave soul out there.  I've just watched the Tour finish at Alpe d'Huez, famous for its massive crowds and passionate supporters.  Hand on my heart I can honestly say that the supporters on the bike climb through the town of Hilpoltstein near Roth easily rivalled if not bettered this, and this was with the rain teaming down.

Race details.  The swim is a 1 lap canal swim with wave starts to reduce congestion.  The bike is over 2 laps, and fast, rolling over carpet like roads - scenery, superb, not a factory in sight.  The run is back to the canal for a 1 loop course.  It should be mentioned that there is a split transition with the swim being conducted 10km from the finish.  However the organisers sort out all the bags so it's not your problem and everything awaits you at the finish.  We flew into Nuremberg on Air Berlin from Stansted and hired a car.  However Munich is just as viable if you want more flexibility on departure airport and the extra 100km on the Autobahn is neither here nor there. We stayed at the Landhotel (http://www.landhotel-gasthof-boehm.de/main.html) which is 3km from the finish and triathlon friendly. Which is to say they provided a pasta buffet the night before and had breakfast ready at 3.30am for us on race day.