II guess the guy is a real role model. Especially for crazy people. No, not for crazy people, they are called differently in sport. Let’s call them highly motivated, whose life is a constant drudge, who work 40 hours a week and train 25 hours. And when they’re not training, compete. And if they’re not competing, train.
But actually I wanted to tell about the guy who is a real role model, especially for highly motivated people. His name is Cameron Wurf, 39 years old, at home in Sandy Bay, Australia, residing in Andorra because of the high altitude and low taxes. He started out as a rower. 16th place at the 2004 Olympics in Athens in double sculls. Not bad. But not good enough for him.
Not trying hard enough at Paris-Roubaix?
In 2007 he switched to racing bikes and became a professional. 2017 then triathlete. Since then, four victories over the Ironman distance and a fifth place at the World Championships in Hawaii. At the same time he is still on the road as a professional cyclist, not in just any forest and meadow team, but in the British team Ineos Grenadiers, the current number six in the world rankings. During the cycling classic season in the north of France, Wurf showed how competition and training can be combined. For Ineos Grenadiers he drove the legendary super-difficult Paris-Roubaix race, in which the drivers traditionally finish half-dead. Litter’s bike time: 5:51:25 hours. 128th place
When the colleagues deservedly had themselves cared for after the hard work had been done in order to regain some of their strength, Wurf got on his feet in Roubaix and quickly ran a half marathon, i.e. 21.195 kilometers. His documented time: 1:26:55 hours.
It is not known whether he swam a few kilometers before the start of the race, so I wouldn’t be overly surprised. In any case, the astonishment in the social channels was great. It must be a real iron man, this throw, and somehow you only come up with such an idea as a long-distance triathlete.
You wouldn’t think of it in football. Imagine if Leroy Sané had rowed another 20 kilometers on the Seine after a match in the Champions League in Paris, what would people say? Yes, he’s crazy, he, the idiot idiot, they would say.
However, there was no criticism of litter either. It was said that he probably didn’t really exert himself on the cobblestone course from Paris to Roubaix. Would have been a bit more than 128th place. There’s something to it. Because in Roubaix, according to an iron law, every racing driver arrives with an empty tank. Except for one this year.