First victory in the second competition after a long race-break – Swim had to be cancelled due to windy and tough conditions – Strong performance on the bike.
In his second competition after a long break from racing, Michael Raelert has celebrated the first victory. The Rostockian won the inaugural Strandräuber Ironman 70.3 Rügen. In 3:53:10 hours he took the title ahead of Matthias Knossolla from Germany (3:56:26) and Edo van der Meer from the Netherlands (3:57:31). "It was a very challenging race for all competitors," said the 34-year-old. The conditions had been tough due to gusty winds, low temperatures and heavy rain. "Today, everyone has felt how hard the conditions have been."
Already the day before the race, the organizers had considered to cancel the swim due to strong winds, on race day it then became reality. It was a morning with harsh waves at the Baltic Sea Coast in Binz, so the Ironman 70.3 was transformed into a duathlon event. Instead of the 1.9 km long swim a 5-kilometer run was the prelude. "It's always a pity, when it is impossible to make the entire route," said Michael Raelert, "but under these conditions, a swim would not have been a good idea." On the first run, Michael Raelert could place himself at the top of the field right from the start. He finished the 5 kilometer run in 16:38 minutes one second behind German Alexander Schilling. Already in the first transition, the Rostockian then took over the lead.
After a few kilometers on the bike, German Andreas Dreitz passed Michael Raelert for the lead. He kept the pace high at the front, while Michael Raelert was only a few seconds behind in runner-up-position. One week after taking part in the Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Andreas Dreitz could not stay this fast pace to the end of the ride. Michael Raelert moved into first place again after 60 kilometers of the 90 km long bike leg and opened up a gap on his way to T2. He came off the bike with the best bike split in 2:09:50 hours, he was 2:43 minutes ahead of German Marcus Herbst.
After two thirds of the final half marathon, Michael Raelert already had a lead of more than four and a half minutes. "It was an incredibly good feeling to race from the front again," said the Rostockian, "of course the conditions were tough, it was not an easy day. But as well it was a lot of fun, especially because the spectators cheered at all athletes although the weather was so bad." On the last few kilometers of the run course, Michael Raelert was able to enjoy and celebrate his first victory after winning Ironman 70.3 Berlin in June 2013. He ran to the title at Rügen with a run split of 1:21:03.