By TJ Murphy
November 20, 2008 -- Germany’s Andreas Büscher, 47, is the 2008 winner of the men’s division of the Quintuple Iron Challenge in Monterrey, Mexico. Büscher completed the 12-mile swim, 560-mile bike and 131-mile event in an unofficial time of 103 hours, 40 minutes and 1 second.
After crossing the finish line late in the afternoon, Büscher was pleasantly stunned to be crowned the victor. “It is unbelievable for me,” he said when asked about the win. “I had no pressure on me in coming here. I came here to make some new friends and enjoy the atmosphere. It’s a lot different than regular Ironmans. It’s much more intimate. I wasn’t out to win, but to finish.”
Büscher says his training this year didn’t start out as planned. “I had problems early in the year, so January, February and March didn’t go well. But I told myself to be cool.” A finisher of the double- and triple-Ironman distances in the past, this was his first quintuple. Büscher reports having few problems on the course and thanks his key strategy. “I start everything very slowly,” he said. “The swim, the bike and the run. It’s important to start slow.”
Late in the evening, USA’s Michelle Santihano managed to hold off Germany’s Elke Streicher, winning in a time of 108:14:48. Joining Büscher, Santihano and Streicher in the coveted finishers’ column was USA’s Wayne Kurtz, of Wexford, PA. Kurtz was doubtlessly given a spike of late-ultra energy when hearing that his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers bulldozed through the Cincinnati Bengals 27-10, a game played while Kurtz was completing the final miles of his run.
