KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii -- When Natascha Badmann swooped down on the women who swam faster and led Ironman Hawaii in the early miles, the impression was twofold. First, everyone else felt like an antelope being chased and about to be eaten by a swifter, inexorable African predatory cat. Adding metaphoric weight to this dreaded inevitability was Badmann's steed -- the sleek, rare, out-of-production Cheetah racing time trial bike she rode. It was Badmann's two-wheeled Excalibur, the aerodynamic weapon of choice that she wrapped her slight frame around. It was a radical sled, something Badmann and coach Toni Hasler worked hard to fit, to merge as one with the machinery like an arrow, ready to pierce even the fiercest Hawaiian winds. Those regular sub-5 hour splits were like bandilleras expertly dispatched into her rivals, like a matador weakening a bull. But when called upon, her run would finish them off. This Natascha Badmann loomed large in her rivals' consciousness during her six wins and also in her two second places from 1996 through 2006.
Then there is the human reality of Natascha Badmann.
Ready for the 2009 Kona Ironman parade, she looks so slight, so fragile. Not an ounce of extra fat, her arms are thin and her shoulder has scars from the crash. The impression, given the realization of the painful rehab, the metal inserted into her broken bones and the work done on her ligaments in the operating rooms, is of a wispy, ethereal soul who might just blow away in a brisk wind. Her hair is soft and brown and curly. Her eyes are wide open to the world. Her legs have just the right amount of muscle for propulsion and endurance. No more no less.
Just before she hopped in the car that would lead the Swiss contingent in the Ironman parade, an old acquaintance asked Badmann if she had been afflicted with doubts, fears that her career might have been cut short before she could give another great performance?
"Oh yes," said Badmann. "I worked so hard to get full motion of my arms. At first I could only raise them this far…" And she demonstrated by raising her arms lifted to her waist. "Then here…" raising her arms to her chest. "Then here.." equal to her shoulders. "Then here.." shakily, just above her head. "And finally.." she said, representing with pauses the weeks ands months of struggle and pain, "this!" Whereupon she held her slender arms aloft in the gesture of victory that was so familiar for a decade.
"Yes, I had doubts that I could race again," she said. "Because I love this race so much, I did all I could start the 30th anniversary race last year." Indeed, she had only been able to swim for a month. She had only been able to ride a bike outdoors for several weeks. She only had been able to wrap her aching body around her revamped Cheetah for a few weeks. She struggled through the swim in remarkably presentable fashion. The bike went well, but she ran out of gas after 80 miles and soldiered on through. Then, facing the inevitable jolting of the run, she pulled out reluctantly at the gentle insistence of Toni Hasler.
The biggest steps came as 2008 ran into 2009. "I felt better and better, but I did not know if I could really race again," she recalled. As she arrived at the starting line last spring at Ironman 70.3 New Orleans, she felt a kinship with the city still slowly recovering from Hurricane Katrina. "I was not sure at all what would happen," she said. As always, she thought positive thoughts of nature and took off.
That race was an answered prayer. She had a decent swim. Then on the bike, her powers reappeared like a brilliant sunrise after a dark stormy night. She rode through a world class field and took a big lead into the run. Chased by six-time ITU World Championship medalist Catriona Morrison, who had earned a big victory over Mirinda Carfrae at Saint Croix, she had enough run to win. It wasn't quite her world-best Ironman 70.3 race at Eagleman in 2007. But it was a course record, a smashing signature Natascha Badmann ride and a mid-1 hour,20-minute run.
"When I finished I thought 'Whoooh!' " said Badmann with happy wonder. "I have been given this gift."
Badmann then led the Rev3 half Ironman in Connecticut before a red-hot Mirinda Carfrae overtook her halfway through the run, and she finished third. Badmann then took second at Eagleman, then retreated back to Switzerland and the Canary Islands to prepare meticulously for Kona.
When asked if she had her old Cheetah repaired, she said "no. It was too damaged." So how did she get back her ride? The company has been out of production for a decade. "We went to them and they said they would make one last Cheetah for us." she said.
And now Natascha Badmann will make at least one more great performance for her fans. She has the gift again. And like Dave Scott's comebacks at age 40 and 42, it will be a singular pleasure for every fan that she has that gift and that smile to share on the Queen K once again.
