Ironman World Champion becomes Queen of the Arlberg

After an impressive and spectacular race Daniela Ryf (SUI) and Thomas Steger (AUT) can call themselves the great winners of the eighth Trans Vorarlberg Triathlon in Lech am Arlberg. As main sponsor of the event the managing directors from The Heimat at 1495m celebrate the success of the athletes as a strong sign for a healthy society and a successful young generation of athletes from Europe.

Superstar Daniela Ryf chooses herself Queen of Lech!
What a competition of impressive performances it was! Already at the “Meet and Greet” with all the stars in the Bregenzer Festspielhaus on the evening before one felt the tension towards the competition. The eighth edition of the Trans Vorarlberg Triathlon from Bregenz up to the ski destination Lech am Arlberg showed all it could. After 1.2 kilometres of swimming in Lake Constance, 93 kilometres of cycling with 2000 metres of altitude difference from Bregenz over the Hochtannberg Pass to Lech, as well as a twelve kilometre long cross-country run for the ladies, the Swiss Daniela Ryf (SUI/Daniela_Ryf_Birds team) triumphed in an impressive manner in fantastic weather conditions. The best triathlete of the present dominated this competition. Ryf comes out of the water among the top ten men and shows an impressive cycling performance. She wins in a sensational time of 4:01:47 with a big crowd applause. Her lead over the second placed South African Annah Watkinson (Triangle Sports) was almost 17 minutes.

Daniela Ryf on the Trans Vorarlberg victory: “It was a wonderful and perfectly organised race. Not an easy competition for me either, but it was a lot of fun to start here with my team. A great course in a wonderful region and a good preparation for the World Championships in Nice and for Kona!”

A great final of the Spirit European Triathlon League – sponsored by “The Heimat”
19 minutes after the Ironman World Champion with a time of only 4:19:25,7, Nina Derron from Team Home of Triathlon St. Moritz crossed the finish line and won the women’s European Triathlon League. Closely followed by Chantal Cummings of Team ETE on second place and Julie Derron of Team Home of Triathlon St. Moritz on third place.

Baptiste Neveu from the Daniela_Ryf_Birds delivered an excellent race in the men's category and took first place in the European Triathlon League in a time of 3:53:28.9. A little more than two minutes later Markus Hörmann from the German Team Tripep crossed the finish line and took second place, followed by Luca Heerdt, also from Team Tripep.

The overall ranking of the Spirit European Triathlon League – sponsored by “The Heimat” was won by Chantal Cummings with 3600 points. The sisters Nina Derron and Michelle Derron follow in places two and three. Arnaud Magot from the Daniela_Ryf_Birds won the European championship title with 2600 points in the men’s category. With only 100 points less, Chris Standidge follows in second place. Third place went to Milosz Sowinski of Team Triangle Sports.

A comment by the project developer of The Heimat at 1495m: The Trans Vorarlberg was a very well organized sports event in a beautiful region – past our apartments in Schröcken-Nesslegg with their fantastic panorama. The participation of the Spirit Multisports European Triathlon League with its teams and also exceptional athletes like Daniela Ryf honoured us and our location. Thus, the Trans Vorarlberg was raised to one of the top events of the triathlon this year. Fortunately, the weather was perfect for triathlon this weekend.

As a sponsor of the Spirit Tri Series and the Trans Vorarlberg Triathlon, we were all the more delighted to celebrate the final of the European Triathlon League race series and the award ceremony here at Arlberg, where we are building our DoubleTree by Hilton with 40 luxury property apartments.

As the project developer of The Heimat's apartment buildings, a healthy, long life is important to us. We are convinced that triathlon can offer this. Therefore, a sustainable building method and a broad equipment for the health of the inhabitants are important to us. For example, we have integrated a 25-meter-long pool into our apartment building to ensure unrestricted triathlon training in a healthy altitude stimulating climate at around 1500 meters – summer and winter alike. St. Moritz, where Daniela Ryf, Nicole Spirig and many other athletes meet every year for training – was a role model for us here. But in Schröcken-Nesslegg there is also an overwhelming alpine scenery.

With the participation of Ryf, Badmann, Steger & Co. the Trans Vorarlberg Triathlon this year put international attention to the Arlberg but also showed how important this sport is for Europe's sports scene. Most of the 430 athletes who have competed come from Austria or a surrounding country. And several of them have already received international recognition for their achievements. The lively interest in KidsAthlon also shows that the importance of triathlon in the regional sports landscape continues to grow.

For The Heimat at 1495m the Spirit Tri Series and the Trans Vorarlberg Triathlon stand exactly for our values: commitment to success, a healthy lifestyle and the enjoyment of the most beautiful regions with all our senses.