Forty years ago, in 1984, the first triathlon competition in Poland took place in Kiekrz, near Poznań. In the same location, this past Sunday, athletes of the third edition of Enea IRONMAN 70.3 Poznań began their race, part of the largest global triathlon series, the IRONMAN 70.3 Series.
At exactly 8:05 AM, the first athletes competing in the Olympic distance event entered the water. They had to cover 1.5 km of swimming, 40 km of cycling, and just over 10 km of running. In excellent weather and with this celebratory atmosphere, the triathletes from Poland rose to the occasion, taking all the podium spots. Among the men, Krzysztof Kuczyński triumphed with a time of 2:02:08, ahead of Maciej Brzyski and Łukasz Walkowiak. The fastest woman was Małgorzata Otworowska (time: 2:10:59), followed by Martyna Lewandowska and Sylwia Ślęzak.
Very nice event, great atmosphere, and excellent organization. I'm glad I decided to participate here.
Małgorzata Otworowska, winner of Enea 5150 Poznań
In the main competition of PRO athletes in the IRONMAN 70.3 distance—1.9 km of swimming, 90 km of cycling, and 21.1 km of running—foreign triathletes took the lead. The best was the Dane, Emil Holm, who crossed the finish line with a time of 3:39:28. The second place went to Briton Iestyn Harrett, and the third place was secured by Belgian athlete Nick Thijs.
I came out of the water in third place, which was much better than I expected, and then I thought, this could be my race. I gave everything I had on the bike, and then I managed to maintain the lead during the run. Everything went my way today.
Emil Holm (Denmark)
In the women's competition, the winner was the Dutch athlete, Marlene de Boer, with a time of 4:05:10, ahead of Rebecca Anderbury (United Kingdom) and Franziska Reng (Germany).
A total of over 1,100 people participated in Sunday's competition, and the entire Enea IRONMAN 70.3 Poznań weekend gathered nearly 2,000 active participants. This is a record turnout in the three-year history of the event. Among the participants were former track and field athlete Marek Plawgo and comedian Robert Motyka, who completed the race in the main distance.
