World Cup bronze: Hard, harder, Christian Klotz

Christian Klotz is 47 years old and comes from Cermes. He has always been an enthusiastic marathon runner. “I completed 15 of them, mostly with a time of around 2:40 hours,” he says. For his 40th birthday, his wife gave him the opportunity to take part in an Ironman. At the Ironman Klagenfurt 2014, the triathlon fever caught him and never let go. “I already did a double ironman before I started in Colmar last week. That was in Emsdetten in Germany in 2017. I immediately came twelfth out of 80 runners,” says Klotz. Then in 2019 the improvement: He took part in the triple Ironman in Bad Blumau in Carinthia. 11,2 km swimming, 540 km cycling and 126 km running. Not a sport for wimps. The race in Bad Blumau was part of the World Cup, Klotz came fourth and, after the break in competition in 2020, was now invited to the World Cup in France.

What fascinates him about extreme triathlon? “I want to see what you can do. If you listen to your body, a lot is possible,” is his credo. “At 47 years old, I am one of the older participants in the field,” says Klotz. 16 “iron men” took up the challenge last Thursday. Everyone also finished the race. First there was a 7,6km swim in a 50m pool in Colmar. “There were four of us in a train,” said Klotz. After 152 lengths he got out of the water in exactly 2:30.00 hours. Then came the cycling. “We drove all night long from half past four in the afternoon until half past six the next morning.” 12 to 15 liters of liquid Klotz needed 13:48.36 hours to cover the 360 km. “It was a technically demanding route with many sharp corners where you often had to slow down to 15 km/h because of the hairpin bends. There were no street lights. Wild boars, deer, rabbits and cats could always be seen in the dark. Klotz drove all night long. He also ate in the saddle. “I was constantly feeding myself. Preferably with blackberries and bananas. Otherwise I almost only consumed fluids. 12 to 15 liters will have already been collected. My wife also cooked me soup with noodles twice, along with tea to warm up and of course coffee,” says Klotz, who felt really good after 200 kilometers and moved up from 9th place.

The biggest problem with the double marathon was “that it got warmer the longer we ran. 9:52.26 hours for 84,4 km was the Tschermser's part-time time. “It was important to keep your head cool while running. But I also ran through without a break.” He had his 12-year-old son Gabriel to thank for the fact that he came third in the end. “I was fourth and actually completely satisfied with that. Gabriel always ran next to me and said that I was only 3 laps behind third.” One lap was around 1,5 km. “But that wasn’t entirely true. I was further back. But Gabriel had to cheat on me so that I got everything out of myself and when I was in 65rd place after 3 kilometers, I took it a little easier. Second place was no longer possible. I enjoyed the competition a little too.” Christian Klotz can be proud of himself.

Of course, intensive training is also necessary for this workload. “I do two core sessions a week. I walk from Mals to Tscherms with my wife accompanying me on the bike, otherwise I walk 10 kilometers a day to work in Lana. Sometimes I cycle to Lake Garda with a few colleagues to eat pasta and then back again. And I usually do my swimming sessions in the Meranarena.”

Now it’s time for Klotz to relax, recover and take a little vacation. But he already has his next goal in mind. “In 2022 I’m planning on doing the Double Ironman in Emsdetten again.” Bretzel Ultra Triathlon 2021 Double Ironman: 1. Cyril Jechoux (France) 25:00.01 2. Christian Champtoussel (France) 25:51.35 3. Christian Klotz (Cscherms) 26:19.18 4. Magnus Gohn (Germany) 26:56.05 5. Marco Bartel (Switzerland) 28:41.10 6. Anthony Bavouzet (France) 29:06.14

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World Cup bronze: Hard, harder, Christian Klotz

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