104-0443_IMG.JPG (674472 bytes) BRW/Powertel Triahtlon, April 1st, 2001

Start of the swim leg on one of those uncomparable beautiful Sydney days.

104-0431_IMG.JPG (620354 bytes) Competitor's swimming
104-0432_IMG.JPG (743898 bytes) Markus swimming. I deliberately started last and lost the contact to the others soon. Given the fact that this was only my 4th swim in 15 years I was happy that the course seemed to be shorter than the official 400 meters.
104-0438_IMG.JPG (959976 bytes) Cycling leg (8 km). Here I could make up some of the lost ground from swimming and passed a bunch of competitors. Actually I already had passed about 10 people while running the 400m from the swim finish to the changing zone (which turned out to be almost the hardest part of the Triathlon).
104-0433_IMG.JPG (731098 bytes) Finally what I had been waiting for the whole race: My speciality, the run (4 km). However, it took me almost 1 km to develop full "race speed" rhythm. I was lucky enough to pass a lot of people which was a little bit a hassle because there were sometimes congested areas.
104-0442_IMG.JPG (780092 bytes) The finish area right on the tip of the Royal Botanical Gardens (on the spot were the final scene of Mission Impossible II was shot).
104-0444_IMG.JPG (576463 bytes) Happy finisher. I really liked the concept of a Triathlon. The changes are hard. I think I have to learn how to swim properly in order to be able to compete in more Triathlons.