Triathlon Team Ratingen 08 is fifth in Hanover
Triathlon, 2nd Bundesliga
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TTR 08 holds the 2nd Bundesliga
Ratingen At the end of the season, the Ratinger triathletes in Hanover achieved their best result with fifth place and thus secured their place in the league. Jan Ortjohann causes a moment of shock that could lead to relegation.
With a strong fifth place at the end of the 2nd Triathlon Bundesliga North, the Triathlon Team Ratingen (TTR) 08 confidently secured relegation. Jan Baumgarten, Leon Vollstedt, Morten Schmidt and Jan Ortjohann impressively demonstrated in Hanover that the TTR with the best cast is a candidate for the front ranks in the “small” triathlon upper house. The quartet completed the first 2×2 pair triathlon in 1:01:37 hours and then celebrated the best result of the 2022 season.
“What a day”, team manager Georg Mantyk, who had fun at the Maschsee in Lower Saxony’s capital. “It’s a huge result for our boys and it shows what we can do in the league when our top four players are on the starting line. That already gives us great additional motivation for the coming season.” In the last season, the TTR was in eleventh place out of 19 teams.
The special race format provided for two teams of two from each team to complete a sprint triathlon. For the TTR, Baumgarten and Vollstedt first started over the distances of 400 meters swimming, eleven kilometers on the bike and 2.6 kilometers running. The first duos had to be handed over to their teammates together, and the faster duo from the second pair counted.
After a strong swim, the two from Ratingen quickly made it into the first cycling group. Both of them also showed a top performance in running, although Vollstedt did not have his best day. With the second pair it had been agreed from the start that Schmidt would not finish after a long injury break. His part as a good swimmer was the support of Ortjohann. However, he had a very good day and after a quick first change he was able to place himself at the front of the field and held this position on the bike and in the running shoes. He crossed the finish line in 1:01:37 hours and the team was all smiles about fifth place.
However, the second youngest from the TTR quartet also caused a real moment of shock. He received a time penalty of ten seconds because he hadn’t placed his bike helmet correctly in the box provided during the change. This must stand the athlete to the end of the race in a so-called penalty box. Ortjohann, however, took no notice of this punishment. Only the vehement communicative commitment of the accompanying supervisors ensured that Ortjohann kept his time penalty and the team was not disqualified.
“That would have been a small sporting catastrophe for us,” said Mantyk after the race with a sigh of relief. “If Jan had run straight to the finish, this would have resulted in our disqualification, and with zero points from Hanover we would have been relegated straight away.” But that’s how it stayed with “Would have, would have, bicycle chain”: Instead, the Ratinger triathletes celebrated the best result of the club’s history, relegation and the anticipation of another Bundesliga year in which they hope to be able to start with the best line-up.
Leon Vollstedt received an additional honor. Although the state squad starter had missed the first two races of the season, he achieved a respectable place in the individual ranking of the league starters.