Forum v Ironman Frankfurt: Storming Finish

A sea of Pirates on the 3.8K swim

With the sun bouncing the heat off Frankfurt’s cobbled centre onto thermometers that showed 118 degrees the day before the race, there were justifiable concerns from every quarter. The announcement that – for the first time in European Ironman history – no wetsuits would be allowed, knocked the fragile confidence of several of the weaker swimmers. As they marched down to the water’s edge the smiles were tight, the faces pale. Then they were off, and flashes of yellow were soon obscured in the thrashing maelstrom that typifies an Ironman start.

One by one, pirates emerged – MisterM, IronMike and Medium Dave the first three, and strong times from several others – but as the cut-off neared there were concerns for the last few. Where were the novices Donald, Kanga and Plum? And where was Cougie, already 45 minutes over his last Ironman swim? Eventually three of them arrived within the time limit, but Plum was still out there. At last, the exit almost obscured by a thunderous downpour, he came, he swore, he clambered over the deflated archway and headed for the bike, allowed to continue by sympathetic officials.

The torrential rain marked a hard first hour on the bike. The road was slippery, visibility was poor, and many racers, including pirate Keg-Killer, could be seen shivering as they pedalled. But many had got off to a storming start, with five pirates completing the full course in under 5:30, another 13 of them in less than six hours. Iron Rose and RichardM, friendly but steely rivals at the top end, had just three seconds between them on the bike leg. Strong, steady performances were marred for some by falls – Zilla, chasing IM Switzerland DNF demons, came off hard but continued – and for others by punctures, Swiss Bobby within the first kilometer!

Then, disaster as the Pirate Ship of Fools was scuppered. An unusual cut-off for the first lap of the bike took eight prisoners, five of them novices, three of them with successful Ironman finishes in previous years. Shattered that their first IM experience should end even before halfway, Meldy, Bendy Jan, Keg Killer, Donald and Plum nevertheless rallied and lent their voice to the horde of pirate supporters later in the day, along with Ironwolf, Barley and Cougie – who completed the marathon ‘for fun’ anyway, and did his supporting along the way.

Pebble shows off his bike skills

Many say it’s the run that’s the true test of the Ironman. It’s here that novices – as so many of the pirates were – can make the mistake of pushing too hard on the bike and tiring their legs too much for the run. But the advice they received, the training they’d done, their own good sense and the iron will of every pirate that completed the bike leg paid off – every one of them finished.

The top end of the list was predictably strong and fast; RichardM, Nick Rose and Cartman all between 3:30 and 3:50 for the marathon, with half the PSOF managing sub five hours. Even Oxymoron, suffering from a painful foot injury and a blister the size of Frankfurt, reaped the rewards of a strong swim and steady bike when he still crossed the finish line in plenty of time after a gruelling 6:40 run leg.

Family affairs: Slummo crosses the finish line with his biggest fans

As one by one they crossed the finish line and tottered off to the athletes’ village to be showered, fed, infused if necessary, the city centre grandstand begin to fill with the yellow shirts of supporters and swell with even non-piratey emotion. Recovered and euphoric they joined the crowds to wait and sing and dance and clap and wait for their final few shipmates. As the skies opened once more on the finishing line party, the triumphant Zilla roared his way home, the ghosts of Switzerland laid to rest. Swiss Bobby charged through, Debbo was joined by her Little Drummer Boy to throat-breaking cheers, Kanga’s relieved and triumphant grin spoke antipodean volumes, Oxy made his audience wonder how on EARTH anyone could hobble that far, and JD, hot on his heels, elicited more than one tear from the watching crowds.