The duathlon season of 2006 began for me with the Powerman-Holland. This race was also evaluated as a Powerman European Championship.
While any soccer fan has to wash his mouth out with soap at the mention of the word Holland, I can merely out myself as a Holland and also Belgium fan. The starting shot was fired promptly at noon. For 250 athletes this meant running for 9.3m/15km, cycling for 37m/60km and then running again for 4.6m/7,5km (or as the Dutch would say:Loopen - Fietsen - Loopen).

After having been sick the week before, my self-confidence wasn't huge in the beginning. However, after I ran the first 9.3m/15km in 58.18min, I was in a good mood.

The first 18.5m/30km on my bike were good too.

Then the man with the hammer came calling (and it was a big hammer). I really suffered and the last 4.5m/7,5km took me 40min. I crossed the finish line after 3.40h, which made me 20min slower than last year.
In 22nd place in my division and with the intention of doing everything better next year, I began my journey home highly motivated.

Leif