It is the biggest event for triathletes and is considered the toughest race in the world: the Ironman in Hawaii. A Bundeswehr doctor from Ulm is one of the German participants in October.
Christian Ernst is a doctor by profession and works as a senior field doctor at the Bundeswehr Hospital (BWK) on the Oberen Eselsberg in Ulm. And by the way, the specialist in spine and osteology is a specialist in orthopedics for the German national ski team. And: The BWK doctor is an extreme athlete himself, he is an “iron man” and will take part in the legendary Ironman in Hawaii in October.
For the 50-year-old, a lifelong sporting dream has come true: being able to start with the best 2,500 triathletes in the world. The men start on October 8th, the women start two days earlier. Swimming, cycling, running, all long-distance. For this you have to accept costs of around 10,000 euros. But because he starts for the BWK, his employer pays 40 percent of it.
Other athletes around Ulm want to Ironman
Other amateur athletes from the region also want to go to Hawaii: the rector of Ulm’s Spitalhofschule, Martin Felber from Erbach (Alb-Donau-Kreis), for example. Or (according to the starter list) Christian Peitz from Ulm, Sabrina Klotz from Gundelfingen (district of Dillingen), and – shortly before her 66th birthday – Bariele Célette from Dillingen. This makes her the oldest German amateur athlete. And the professional athlete Elena Illeditsch from Lauchheim comes from the Ostalb district
The Ironman World Championships in Hawaii will take place in 2022 from October 6th to 8th.
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Extreme athletes with respect for cars
Now the doctor, who also looks after the Laichinger runner Alina Reh, is confident about next Wednesday, then he flies to Hawaii. The last wheel units are over. And then he always had the respect that in the end a “car could get him off his bike”.
After a hard workout, the body “shuts down”
So the bike training is over. Otherwise, he is one of the “couple of crazy people” who go to the SSV swimming pool at half past five in the morning, just like on Thursday. Overall, however, the body is “shut down”. The hard training program is no longer on the agenda for him, but rather regeneration and stretching, for example. But of course you can’t switch off the engine completely, because the Ironman run alone is a “normal” marathon.
“You don’t just drive there. In the ten hours in a row that you run, ride a bike and swim, the material has to fit.”
And that’s why you have to qualify for this big event. Christian Ernst has been trying to do this since 2012 and has taken part in a total of six long-distance races. Also with professional training, with high financial commitment, with special nutritional strategies, with abstinence from alcohol. The asceticism and the stress did not bring him anything at first.
With loose legs to a perfect day
Now he’s more relaxed about the whole thing and it worked, although qualifying for Haiwaii wasn’t the goal this time. That’s why he didn’t tell anyone much about the long-distance race in Frankfurt beforehand, not even his family. And then that day in June came when he qualified for Hawaii. That was a day, he remembers, when everything worked out and fitted. A day he started with “very relaxed legs”.