An Ironwoman is Born...
Petra Conquers the ChesapeakeMan

by Wanderers field correspondent Susan Hurrey

On October 1, 2005 Petra Kretschmann came... She saw... And she conquered the ChesapeakeMan Ultra Distance Triathlon - a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. Her time was a sizzling 12:25:25.

The race began at 7:00 a.m. with a beautiful sunrise . . . or at least that's what Petra's husband Werner told her. Petra was busy in the water battling the other swimmers and the jellyfish as well. A few days before the race the race director recommended that the athletes should consider wearing a wetsuit because of the high number of jellyfish. His prediction turned out to be spot on. "I never got stung by a jellyfish before in my whole life. I'm making up now for all these years," said Petra who estimated that she was stung twenty times.

After 1:01:31 Petra was out of the water and onto the biking portion of the race. To help keep herself motivated Petra printed emails from friends and taped various motivational/inspirational thoughts to the handlebars and on the frame. Petra was a real pro. "In the beginning a lot of people passed by and I felt discouraged by the power the other competitors had," she said. "Since I did a lot of long bike rides and did a couple of century bike rides I knew I can get through the bike part and shouldn't care about the speed of others."

Petra came screaming into the transition area after being on the bike only 6:26:52. For Petra the marathon was the daunting part of the race. "I was so happy to finish the bike part and to see my support team. At this point I went into the unknown area, since I never did a marathon after my long bike rides. This was the part that would decide whether I would finish the race or not". Despite how Petra may have felt before beginning the marathon she looked strong coming out of the transition area and was all business from then on. Petra's fan club, Werner and Susan, drove down to the eight mile mark to cheer her on.

Comment from Susan: "I couldn't believe how sunny and hot it was out on the course. There was very, very little shade and to me the miles seemed to go on forever - just a straight road and the blazing sun. At one point I was looking down the road for Petra and all I could see was the heat coming up off the road." Petra regarding the heat: "It was terrible. What kept me going is I knew you (Werner and Susan) would be out there."

The next time we saw Petra was at mile 12 and she still looked good - clearly a sign that Petra is not all human. From that point we were intending to drive a few miles down the road to meet up with Petra but as we drove past her Petra flagged us down and this is when I got nervous. She really did not look good and later we found out that she was dizzy (of course she didn't mention this at the time). At that point Petra wanted us to meet her every two miles and that's what we did. Drive two miles, stop, wait for Petra, cheer/encourage her and then drive two more miles. "Paying tribute to the sun/heat and long hours of racing I felt burnt out. Or as Dan Gordon would say . . . whipped." Incredibly, Petra looked better when we saw her at mile 15 and every mile thereafter AND she maintained the same pace for the entire 26.2 miles. I'm telling you, you could set your watch to her pace.

As if all of this isn't amazing enough, in the final mile - yes, everyone, after racing for over 12 hours - Petra passed three men and came sprinting into the stadium and across the finish line. Ironwoman's final time: 12:25:25. And, AND Ironwoman came in first place in her age group.

Trivia Question for Petra's Ironman:

Question: How many gels did Petra consume for the entire race?
Hint: She said she never wants to see another gel ever again.

Click here for Petra's pictures.

For the Chesapeake Ironman site, click here.

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