Bundesliga is done. But more racing to come.
The German Bundesliga season ended this past weekend. I didn’t race in the final at Gelsenkirchen, but ALZ performed well and finished the season ranked fourth overall (one of the best finishes ever for the club). From what I have been told it was an exciting and fast race. The race doubled as German Sprint National Championships (hey, why don’t we have an elite draft-legal sprint championships in the states? Bucky, I think you’re on to something here). Last year’s world champion Daniel Unger won and showed that he is on good form going into the Olympic games in two weeks.
It’s unfortunate that the Bundesliga and my club, ALZ, suffered from canceled and missed opportunities this season. Originally the last race in the Bundesliga was scheduled for next weekend but was cancelled. ALZ was originally going to fund a team in the second Bundesliga league, but pulled out when it appeared it wouldn’t be possible to fill start lists.
How this affected me was pretty much race experience. And of course, money. Since I’m paid to race in the Bundesliga these are lost opportunities and especially without the second league, many lost paying opportunities. But I missed out on few races early on this summer when I was coming off injury and was not fit enough to earn a start. I have no regrets coming to race in Germany and it’s been a wonderful and really eye opening experience. I think America could really benefit from a similar series. It would be exciting and bring much needed exposure to the world of elite draft-legal triathlon. Not to mention help fuel the growing youth program USAT hopes to build into future medal olympians. I look forward to returning next summer and taking part in the Bundesliga again.
My manager is nice enough to allow me and the other athletes to stay here in Germany to train and use Sigmaringen as a base to travel and race in Europe. I will be staying here till mid-September with plans to race in four upcoming ITU European Cups across Europe. The first is this weekend in the Czech Republic.
