Since July 12, 2009 Christiane Riefler-Karpa may call herself iron lady.
After having finished her first triathlon ever, she was additionally honored by the new world record holder Chrissie Wellington. The winner of this year’s Quelle Challenge in Roth presented the managing director of Memmert with her finisher medal.
Here find the article in the local Newspaper Schwabacher Tagblatt in German as a PDF-file, showing Christiane and Chrissie.
Trying to combine endurance sport and managing a company of 140 people resulted in a packed calendar for Christiane Riefler-Karpa. For one year the three-time mother struggled her way conscientiously through training sessions and business appointments. The result is very impressive. Since Sunday the 41-year-old has joined the ranks of the Challenge finishers.
Mother of three, boss of an internationally active company for temperature control equipment, and since Sunday an Iron Lady. Christiane Riefler-Karpa ran through her triathlon career, not unusual in these parts, so to speak in fast-forward mode. Last year she began as a swimmer in the Challenge relay along with her colleagues, two weeks ago at the Rothsee she did the triathlon for the first time, and now on Sunday came the really big Challenge experience. She had hoped to finish between 8 and 9 in the evening. At 10 to eight came the moment for which this graceful 41-year-old had trained intensively for a whole year under the guidance of ex- professional Bennie Lindberg: a lap of the Roth triathlon stadium, which was also the finishing line. Chrissie Wellington, freshly crowned world record holder and woman of the day, presented the managing director of the Memmert GmbH +Co. KG in Schwabach and Büchenbach with her finisher medal. After nearly 14 hours of triathlon, Christiane Riefler-Karpa was still fit enough to hold on for the final fireworks, and to enjoy the much cited goose pimples feeling. The fact that she had been greeted at many of the refreshment points by employees of the company helped her to hold out for the extremely hard final phase of her very first marathon ever.
Before this, on the cycling circuit, the Solar Mountain (“Sheer Madness”) had eclipsed everything. The woman from Schwabach was quite surprised by the fact that competitors on the circuit, especially those from France, were full of encouraging words.
The most important requisite in the buildup to her Challenge premiere for Christiane Riefler-Karpa was her calendar. Fitness coach Bennie Lindberg knew exactly what he wanted. 10 to 12 hours training each week were required. And so it was crawl at the crack of dawn in the Schwabach or Roth open-air swimming pool (“the water is warmer in Roth”) and jogging for one hour in the lunch break. And in the evening, when the children (nine, six and four) were in bed, it was off to the fitness studio. To be able to ride a bike for five to six hours at a stretch, one day of the weekend normally needed to be sacrificed.
“Movement is as much part of life as breathing” is the philosophy of coach Bennie Lindberg. The company boss spoke of a “great way of relaxing from work” and about dealing with stress. As far as the work/life balance concept is concerned, which is intended to become part of company culture at Memmert, Christiane Riefler-Karpa has already provided an example. Fact is that employees of Memmert so far have been spared short-time work or even job losses . According to the company’s boss the worldwide activities attribute to this, despite the economic crisis that has not gone unnoticed there. Memmert products are in use in over 120 countries. The crisis did not strike equally hard in every country, the 41-year-old summed up. And in addition, market activity in the Far East is showing hopeful signs.
The emphasis will continue to be placed on sport as a form of relaxation from work by the Memmert boss and many employees. It is possible that there will be more than one Memmert relay team at the start next year, at the landing stage close to Hilpoltstein. When they were looking for a swimmer last year, the boss, who had never excelled at sport in her school days, simply said: “I’ll do it”. A decision with many consequences. Despite having heavy legs yesterday, the former ballet student was not ruling out another individual start. Because sport is enjoyable, and the atmosphere at the Quelle Challenge is absolutely incredible.
The highest accolade behind the finishing line: Chrissie Wellington (r.), who smashed the world best time for the long-distance triathlon in Roth, presents Christiane Riefler-Karpa with her finishing medal.
