Triathlon: – Hawaii – that sounds like wanderlust. After high waves for surfers and to stone desert, on which thousands of triathletes torment their way through volcanic landscapes for ten hours or more at the legendary annual Ironman. Daniel Gro is also one of these endurance athletes.
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Waldshut-Tiengen
Swap school desk for triathlon: How a math teacher from Waldshut-Tiengen makes it to the Ironman in Hawaii
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The 35-year-old teacher from Waldshut, who teaches physics and mathematics at the Hochrhein-Gymnasium there, had fulfilled his lifelong dream as an athlete in September last year. It was a magical moment when he met the overall qualification norm for the 2020 Hawaii classic on his fourth attempt at the Triathlon in Wales.
He was proud when he covered the Ironman distance of 226 kilometers – 3.8 km swimming, 180 km cycling and 42.195 km running – just under ten hours. That was the magic mark – ten hours. In swimming, Gro even set a personal best with 56 minutes. He sat on the bike for five and a half hours, the run took him 3:20 hours. In the overall ranking with over 2000 athletes, he landed in 22nd place.
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Regional sport Hochrhein
Martin Walther from LC Schaffhausen and Jeannine Piazzalunga from the May Running Team win the 3rd City Run of VfB Waldshut
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After qualifying in Wales, Daniel Gro had already put together a schedule for the Ironman in Hawaii a year later. Sure – he didn’t want to stand unprepared at the start in Kailua-Kona on October 10, 2020 to plunge into the waters of the Pacific Ocean.
Almost six months before the planned adventure, the joy of the exceptional athlete from Waldshut is slightly clouded. Hawaii is still on the triathletes’ diaries, but the corona pandemic could put a spanner in the works for everyone.
Running: Daniel Gro successfully started the Schluchsee Triathlon with his team from LG Steinlach-Zollern in 2017. | Image: (private)
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“I’m between hope and fear,” Daniel Gro doesn’t want to panic at first. “The course of the pandemic will show whether Ironman Hawaii can take place,” he says. It is definitely too early for statements and speculations at the moment, according to the Waldshut athlete, whom many athletes in our region know as the winner of the Lauchringer Triathlon Night and the fastest on the short distance at the Waldshut City Run last year.
Since it was too early for wild speculation, Daniel Gross was not exactly happy about Patrick Lange’s statement either. The world-class triathlete, who was victorious in Hawaii in 2017 and 2018, and who is again one of the top favorites of the event this year, brought a possible Corona variant for the major event into play in an interview, which around 70 professionals are starting to let the thousands of amateur athletes refuse to participate. Gro: “I found Patrick Lange’s statement pretty wrong.”
For the amateurs, Gro explains his opinion, participating in Hawaii is associated with a huge amount of effort. Above all, it is not available for free and must be compatible with the job. For himself, October would be ideal. “I would be on parental leave,” he says. Daniel Gro has been the proud father of a son since January. “We’d be in Hawaii for three and a half weeks – anything is possible,” he says, still in good spirits.
Daniel Gro: “With a complete cancellation, you could transfer the starting places for next year.” | Image: Welte, Gerd
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And if the classic is canceled due to the pandemic, then – please – no egg dance. Gro: “With a complete cancellation you could transfer the starting places for next year.” Perhaps it will also work with a staging this year. “Subject to conditions – perhaps without a spectator.”
Patience is required, but no training break. Running and cycling – even without Hawaii, these are the Waldshuter’s “favorite trucks”. Even if his training camp was canceled over Easter, he now trains more intensively, breathes and pedaled training kilometers according to plan. He recently drove from Waldshut up to the Feldberg with two friends. The bike set off at 4 a.m. – that’s really only for sports enthusiasts.
From July he wants to start preparing for the competition with specific units. “I know what things I still have to work on,” he says. Its strength is usually its balance. Whether swimming, cycling or running – Daniel Gro is fine with any of the three disciplines of a triathlon.
Can he imagine doing a triathlon – like last year’s Hawaii winner Jan Frodeno – at home in the paddling pool, on the bike trainer and on the treadmill? “It’s not for me,” he says. He needs the ocean, stone deserts, and tar of Kailua-Kona. Daniel Gro needs Hawaii.
