Gerardmer celebrates French athletes (04.09.2010)

Today the triathlon weekend in Gerardmer was opened with the Triathlon XL, a middle distance. After a tough week Faris Al-Sultan placed 6th in the Vosges.

The race did not go like Faris hoped. Though the swim started well. He came out of the water in the leading group without pushing himself hard. But after the first bike kilometres he already felt that it would not be his day. It is tough if that happens in Gerardmer as the racecourse is a hard one. Also the air temperature was around 15 degrees Celsius whereas Faris is more known for great performance in hot conditions. Nonetheless Faris fought his way through 93 bike and 21 run kilometres and finished 6th. At the front there were 3 Frenchmen, the ITU long distance world champion Sylvian Sudrie, Stephane Poulat and Julien Loy.

Faris after the race: “The triathlon in Gerardmer is organized well and the area is beautiful but that was no help today. I was just tired. After a tough training week in Meran I did not recover. Last weekend I was in Abu Dhabi and on the way to this race I stopped for a day at the Eurobike. That was not really perfect. Anyway I am looking forward to Hawaii. Next week I will already travel to California to prepare for October 9th."