German age grouper Beate Görtz was the top female amateur in Kona and finished 15th overall. Quite impressive when considering that she has been involved with triathlon only for a few years.
Slowtwitch: Thank you very much for your time Beate.
Beate: I am glad that I can give this interview. Slowtwitch is famous in the triathlon world. I am happy to answer some questions from the view of an age grouper.
ST: Your race in Kona was quite impressive and you managed to finish 15th overall. Were you impressed too?
Beate: After 2010 where I won the age group already I never thought that I could repeat it. One week before the race I checked the list of the starters and saw a female who came from the younger age group to mine. In 2010 she was 13 minutes faster than I. So I was worried about my first place. But I said to myself 'Being here is already a victory. So what, no big expectations and have fun!!!'
ST: Looks like you had fun and a good race. Did the competition change or have you improved?
Beate: Hawaii is famous because of the hard circumstances wind and heat. Last year it was my first start. I wanted to be careful not going too hard and having energy for the run. I had much respect. My average heart rate was only about 140. My swimming is bad and to improve my running would have been much harder work. So my coach Frederik Martin decided to make me work on the bike. He decided well. It has paid of. Five weeks before Hawaii I got a new bike and I started to train with a power system. It was a risk but I think I got the final best form with power and material.
ST: We believe your first triathlon was in 2007 and that was without much swimming background. You have come a long way since then.
Beate: To be honest I could not swim until 2007. My nickname was shell. The swimming prowess hasn't change much, I am still a sea cucumber (Seegurke).
In 2007 and 2008 I started on a short distance. After that I decided to finish a long distance in 2009. Hey I was already 39, no time to lose. It was crazy but not impossible. My goal was not to think too much and train instead. My trainer filled the short gaps from work with hard efficient units. After 3 years of triathlon I was a world champion. This was the reward for having no time on the sofa for relaxing.
ST: Often when female age groupers have a fast bike split in Kona, the drafting topic comes up. But we heard from several racers on course that you were charging in the front, and if anything you had guys latched on to you. Is that correct?
Beate: If I see a group I normally have the wish of overtaking. I always come from the back because of my non-existing talent of swimming. In my opinion triathlon is an honest competition where you are doing everything on your own. The same applies to the bike part. If someone latches on me he has to take the responsibility for himself being honest or not. Cycling in a group means stress. In a race I am very concentrated. I never look back. I do not care if someone is behind me in the middle of the race. Being honest with yourself allows you to have a satisfied look into a mirror.
ST: Do you think you were closely followed because of your female attributes or your cycling prowess?
Beate: Hopefully they stayed close to my back wheel because of the view in front. That thought would be good for my self-confidence and brings a little smile on my face. Or was it the respect for my age?
ST: Can you explain your athletic background?
Beate: I started to run in 2000. Millennium was a good time to change something because I was not sportive until 2000. To be honest my overweight started to be a little problem. After 7 years of running I reached my goal of a marathon time of 3:22 and it was time to try something new.
ST: So cycling is not how you started?
Beate: Before I came to Cologne at the end of 1999 I was living in a little village with a lot of opportunities for cycling. In that time I was thinking that 700km per year was already a lot! When I moved in 1999 to that town with 1 million inhabitants I was shocked. My first and last experience in 1999 with my bike was horrible. There were too many cars, too many people, too much noise and no fun on the bike. So I stopped cycling and moved to running. But triathlon has something to do with a bike. Today I try to eliminate the noise of the cars. Before I start to relax on the bike I always have 4 km with a pulse of 160 cycling through the middle of town not hiding a pedestrian or having a flat tire because of glass. Anything is possible.
ST: Your Kona bike setup seems to have been pieced together. Is there any logic behind that?
Beate: This is a legitimate question because there was a mixture of everything. I am not a freak about material. We took everything we got or nobody wanted to have in order to build a new bike. As long as I could use the gear, my legs had to do the rest. I think there is a lot of potential for optimization.
ST: So what is next? Rumor has it that you are considering turning Pro?
Beate: Yes indeed, I wanted to start as a Pro just with the DTU license in 2012. But I changed my mind. One reason for being a Pro was to get the prize money which normally only goes to the Pros. But after taxes there is no advantage in comparison to an age grouper. The second reason was to get sponsors. But I made an interesting experience. I don't want to offend someone but my age is a problem for sponsors and not the matter of having a Pro license or not. But in 2013 I want to try a new goal. It is my deep wish to start as a Pro on Hawaii in 2013. The preparation will be hard for me the next 2 years but I am just at the beginning of triathlon. Why not?
ST: So you will race as a Pro to do Ironman races and qualify as a Pro for Kona 2013? Doesn't that mean you need a DTU Pro license?
Beate: To go to Kona as a PRO I need both the DTU and the Ironman license. That I will do for the season 2013.
ST: Do you really feel sponsors would discriminate against you because of your age?
Beate: I have nice sponsors and they support me well. I am proud of those people who believe in me. But yes, I made already that experience. If I talked to them or send them some pictures of me at the end I will get the question of my age. I think they do not see a chance of a long sponsorship. But I am just at the beginning of development and I will improve! Same with the famous triathlon magazines except you. No pictures, no knowledge about me, no more words than just my name. This is disappointing! Lava Magazine and Slowtwitch were the first platforms where I was invited to tell something about me. Publicity is always important for sponsoring.
ST: But who asked you first for an interview?
Beate: You :-)
ST: So who is that with you in that underpants run pic?
Beate: My boyfriend Helmut Greger.
ST: Explain your current day job.
Beate: I am a sales person with an average of 55 hours per week. I travel around 50.000 miles through Germany, other European countries and USA. I sell a modular pipe support system to support pipes in the process industry. My job means working in a man´s world, which is a lot of fun being a surprise for my customers. I like my job particularly because a lot of customers know about my sport and being infected!
ST: Often age groupers with good jobs can have better equipment than some Pros. And it sounds like you have a solid job.
Beate: In 2009 I invested around $20,000 for triathlon and now I have costs about $12,000 per year. That means my spare money is already an investment into my sport. It is unbelievable that triathlon is so expensive. But most of the money is for training and competitions.
ST: Is there anything else we should know?
Beate: There is hardly a race where everything was running normal with me. Funny things happened until now but I can laugh about it. One thing I will never forget is the following story. My first long distance Challenge Roth in 2009 has been a disaster. I lost my chip after swimming and I recognized it after 5 miles on the bike. You can't imagine what happened in my head! One year training, my first long distance! I went back the whole way, parked my bike somewhere, ran the last mile with those stupid shoes, went into the truck where the swimming bags stacked, found my bag with my chip and started as the last female. At the end I was the world record holder for changing time after swim in age group 30-39 with 40 minutes. I finished as the 36th and overtook 242 females. In 2012 I want to close the open bill. I will start there again hopefully without any problems
