A First Win For Forster

Germany's Markus Forster overcame the tough conditions to win in Wisconsin

Markus Forster lived up to the promise he has always shown as a triathlete earlier this month in winning the Ford Ironman Wisconsin event in Madison. A member of Germany's national junior team more than a decade a go, Forster moved up to the Ironman distance in 2000, placing fifth at Ironman Switzerland.

Between that impressive debut and his win in Wisconsin there were some good results, but the first Ironman win eluded the 31-year-old for many years. It didn't help that most of his events were some of the most competitive on the planet, either.

In 2001 he raced in Kona for the first time, finishing 14th. A year later he was seventh. His career seemed to stall a bit at that point, though. In 2003 and 2004 he had a couple of disappointing results at Ironman Germany, finishing ninth and eighth. Then, in 2005, he appeared to be back on track, finishing third in Frankfurt. This year, though, he was sixth, which didn’t get him a spot at the start line in Kona. That led to the trip to Madison.

It’s not easy to win when everyone is expecting you to, especially when someone comes out and has a great race on the day – as Australian Chris McDonald did.

“Going into the race I thought that I could win, but then Chris was so strong on the bike,” Forster said after the race. “I figured that as long as I was within 10 minutes off the bike, I could win the race.”

Forster was almost exactly 10 minutes behind after the bike, but wasn’t feeling exactly “chipper” as he started the marathon.

“When I came back from the bike, I was so tired, but I saw that Chris was so tired too,” he said. “I made up the time quickly, which was good for me.”

Forster steadily gained time on the Australian, and with just over 10 miles of running left, pulled ahead for good. The win not only gets him a qualifying spot for Kona next year, it should also provide him a welcome pay check that will augment his income from his other profession as a master chimney sweep, for a little while longer. Forster regularly works 20 to 30 hours a week in addition to about the same number of hours of training.

“I didn’t like the conditions very much,” he understated after coming across the line in Madison. He was in good company – there weren’t too many athletes who enjoyed the 50-degree (10 degrees Celsius) temperatures and driving rain. For Forster the tough conditions will be quickly forgotten. What will always be remembered is that in Madison he got that first Ironman title that seemed to be part of his destiny when he became an Ironman six years ago.

You may contact Kevin Mackinnon at kmackinnon@ironman.com