Memmert employee Matthias Grosser competed in the IRONMAN 70.3 in Zell am See on August 26, 2012. The middle distance triathlon was held over the distances of 1.9 km for swimming, 90 km for cycling and 21.1 km for running. After a very even race, Grosser, with an end time of 4:17:28, finished in a very respectable 40th place out of a total of 1,850 finishers. In his age group M25, he finished in 4th place and qualified at the same time for the Ironman 70.3 world championships in Las Vegas.
Unfortunately, the weather was anything but ideal for the competition. At times, constant torrential rain at a cool 13 degrees made life difficult for the athletes. Least affected was the swimming in the splendidly situated Zeller See, where a triangular course awaited the athletes. Then, things became really unpleasant on the cycling course, an undulating two laps of a circular route of 45km. By the end, over 900 metres altitude difference had been overcome, and the descents on wet and in parts very slippery roads were certainly not much fun. All the better was the running course, which took the athletes along Zeller See and through the town centre of Zell am See. Grosser made the best of the adverse conditions. He reached the shore in a time of 29:11, exerted real pressure on his bike to keep his undercooled muscles at the right temperature (cycling time 2:15:36) and finally ran the half marathon in 1:24:26, only a few minutes slower than planned in his schedule. He was ultimately very satisfied with his placement in the top 40. With his 4th place in his age group, Matthias Grosser qualified for the Ironman 70.3 world championship in Las Vegas, USA, where he will start in September 2013.
