Schumann, Gerster take Inferno
German XTERRA Pro Felix Schumann took the win at the 5,500 meter (18,800 feet) climbing 2013 Inferno Triathlon in 8:42:47. Sonja Gerster from Switzerland took the women's title in 9:41:08 and became the first woman to go sub 10 hours on this course since it had that distance.
The unique race that features a very tough swim, road bike, mtb, run format started under clear skies and fairly reasonable outside conditions. 353 individual starters and 214 team swimmers entered the 18c (64F) water to swim the 3.1k from Thun to Oberhofen. 10-time champion Marc Pschebizin wasn't at the start though and that opened the door for someone else to take the top podium spot.
The men
Swiss ITU Pro Andrea Salvisberg was first out of the water in Oberhofen in 38:53 and that gave him about a 4 minute advantage over Jan Van Berkel and Felix Schumann.
Salvisberg held on to the lead on the 97 km road bike section that climbs 7,034 feet from Oberhofen to Grindelwald. Van Berkel had lost in fact a bit of time but he reached the transition to the mountain bike next. Van Berkel had about a 2 minute advantage over Schumann who now had his best discipline ahead of him, and Schumann had last year's 4th place getter Andreas Wolpert right on his heels. Nicolas Lebrun who is also known for his XTERRA exploits had moved himself into 5th position.
On the equally tough mountain bike segment that climbs 3,871 feet in 30 kilometers, Van Berkel moved into the lead and was first at the bike-run transition in Stechelberg. Swiss Ramon Krebs managed to have the fastest bike split and reached the bike-run about 90 seconds behind Van Berkel and a couple seconds ahead of Schumann. Samuel Hürzeler had moved himself into 4th place with a very steady effort all day. Lebrun meanwhile dropped back to 7th position over 12 minutes behind the leader.
Schumann then pulled away from Krebs and ran past Van Berkel on the 15.5 mile run from Stechelberg to Schilthorn that features a stunning 7,137 elevation gain. Hürzeler had a race best run of 2:52:10 and gained on Schumann but that was not enough. Schumann took the win in 8:42:57 and he was followed by Hürzeler in 8:45:30 and Krebs rounding out the podium.
The women
Swiss athlete Sonja Gerster who finished 3rd here in 2010 and 2011 and missed the 2012 event because of injuries was first out of the water in the women's event in 48:10. Barbara Bracher was next in 48:44 and a small bunch reached the shore in Oberhofen right around 50 minutes.
Gerster stayed in the lead in the 97k road bike segment and actually extended it with her 3:42:52 split that proved to be fastest among the 58 women in the field. But Bracher lost almost 14 minutes to the leader on this 7,034 elevation gain course and dropped back to 3rd place. Nina Brenn meanwhile had managed a 3:50:39 after the opening 50:10 swim and was now in second position. Barbara Schwarz reached Grindelwald in fourth position, but her 1:06:43 swim and 3:55:09 bike effort had put her 30 minutes behind Gerster.
Gerster was also going well on the 30k mountain bike section and her 1:51:59 split was only beaten by Andrea Huser who moved herself into 5th position with 1:49:42 time. Brenn, Bracher and Schwarz meanwhile maintained their places 2 through 4 as they reached Stechelberg after 3,871 feet of climbing.
It was indeed a great day for Gerster who also ran well. The closing 3:18:02 run was fastest again and brought her home in a course record 9:41:04. The only other female who had gone sub 10 hours before did it on a slightly shorter course in 1998. Brenn held on to second place 20 minutes later and Schwarz moved up to the final podium spot with a 3:24:43 run on this tough climbing course, but over 40 minutes behind the champion.
Inferno Triathlon
Schilthorn, Switzerland / August 17, 2013
3.1k swim / 97k road bike / 30k mtb / 25k run
Top men
1. Felix Schumann (GER) 8:42:57
2. Samuel Hürzeler (SUI) 8:45:30
3. Ramon Krebs (SUI) 8:51:15
4. Andreas Wolpert (GER) 8:58:11
5. Jan Van Berkel (Sui) 9:05:15
Top women
1. Sonja Gerster (SUI) 9:41:04
2. Nina Brenn (SUI) 10:01:30
3. Barbara Schwarz (SUI) 10:23:34
4. Andrea Huser (SUI) 10:36:01
5. Barbara Bracher (SUI) 10:50:11
