Lovely spring weather as the days before would have been the icing on the cake of the half marathon (21.1 km) HiRo-Run for Team Memmert last Sunday, April 4, 2013. However, our contestants defied the rain and cold temperatures – they crossed the finish line in excellent times.
Sebastian Reinwand frontrunner with new course record
Sebastian Reinwand, who recently became a member of the Memmert Family and Team Memmert has for weeks been the odds-on favourite for the season opener of the running events in the area, the HiRo-Run. This was one of his first competitions wearing a Memmert Jersey – and as you see, the Memmert colours gave him wings. After only 1:08 h, he was the first to arrive at the finish line. A direct quote from Reinwand: “Surprisingly faster than expected.” On the course, he even had time and energy to chat with the drivers of the support vehicles, since he had quickly left the other participants behind. Consequently, he was quite happy that the drivers showed him the way – since you cannot follow the crowd as the first in the field…
The 25-year old is not considered an exceptional talent in the disciplines of middle and long-distance without reason. In international races, which are most times dominated by African top runners, his name is among the list of the best German athletes.
The journey is not all that counts
The other 9 Memmeritian contestants took their team mate as an example and did not let wind, rain and cold temperature scare them, either. They successfully completed the half marathon distance of 21.1 km. Each one of them had their own “special motivation” to reach the finish line – the aim was not only to achieve personal bests but for some also to satisfy the hunger and anticipation of the cake buffet and Leberkaese rolls…
The girls team led by trainee Janina Bittmann, who was bitten by the running bug since her marathon debut last year, achieved an honourable sixth place in the overall team ranking. Peter Krieger, Norbert Richter, Ralf Achtnicht, Jürgen Gambert and Benedikt Spangenberg saw this race as a demanding training unit to prepare for coming events – the Memmert Rothsee Triathlon in June and Challenge Roth in July.
The latter had participated at his first half marathon races last year. In his second try this year, he beat his finish time by almost half an hour – that’s the perfect motivation for the coming season, Benedikt.
