Mauch Gets His First Win In Switzerland!

Mauch Gets His First Win In Switzerland!

Sitting at the finish line of Ironman Switzerland in Zurich, watching Christoph Mauch complete the race performance of his life, it wasn't hard to imagine that he had become the Swiss version of Superman.

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Gone were the glasses he'd worn at the press conference a few days before. The quiet, easy-going man who had spent so much of his career in the shadow of the other Swiss Superman, Olivier Bernhard, had also disappeared. Mauch came across the line with his arms up in the air, looking fresh and excited. There should have been fatigue after running away from Bernhard thanks to a 2:51 marathon split. Instead, Mauch went over to give his wife Ayla, who is expecting the couple's first child in November, a long hug. Somewhere during that marathon, Mauch must have found a phone booth and switched uniforms ... in four other appearances at Ironman Switzerland, Christoph Mauch had managed two third place finishes, and was runner-up twice. All-too-often those finishes had come at the hands of Bernhard, the five-time Ironman Switzerland champ.

Christoph Mauch was a champion, and you could see both the satisfaction, and renewed confidence on his face as he crossed the line.

"This is definitely one of the best races in my career," he said later.

While Bernhard was the obvious race favorite going into the race, Mauch was especially motivated to try and beat his Swiss rival. It was to be Bernhard's last race in Europe, and unless he was to live with the inevitable "but he never beat Olivier when it counted" footnote to his career, this was Mauch's last chance to get that win.

"I was thinking a few times this week that this was the last time I could beat him in his home race, and fortunately I did," Mauch said in a post-race interview. "I was not very surprised about my performance, I was more surprised about Olivier's performance. Normally he's a very good runner, and when we entered transition after the bike ride no-one would bet on me that I will win. So I followed him, and the first lap I thought the pace was quite slow, and that I could follow easily. Then after 12km there's a small climb up a ramp and all at once there was a small hole, and after that I pushed, and the space opened up."

"After such a race, you're thrilled, and maybe believe in yourself more that you did before," Mauch continued. "I think maybe the last race I had like that was four years ago, so I've waited for a long time, and I'm happy to have had a race like that. I'm looking forward to more races like that in the future."

Since Ayla is expecting, Mauch will race at Ford Ironman Wisconsin in September, hoping to qualify for Kona in 2006, rather than competing in Hawaii this year.

Despite some difficult races in Kona over the last few years, Mauch is confident that he can have another great day at the Ford Ironman World Championship.

"I've had four very good races in Kona," he said. "I was two times fourth, one time sixth, and one time tenth, and the year I was 10th I had big mechanical problems and spent a lot of time on the side of the road."

Those great races, though, have been hard to come by over the last few years, a source of frustration for Mauch.

"I had very disappointing races in Hawaii, and that's the biggest race in the sport, so I was always very depressed after Hawaii," he said with a passion that made it clear the "Clark Kent" persona hadn’t returned. "You train, you invest a lot for the race, you go over there, then you have a bad race. The bad thing is that you always have a week of holiday over there with your wife, and you're just so "pissed" that you can't enjoy the holiday."

Those poor memories won't be coming back any time soon after Mauch's huge win in Switzerland. The question is, will Mauch be ready to take on the mantle of Switzerland's top Iroman. He is, and he's looking forward to it!

"It will be more difficult in Zurich next year," he said. "I will be the defending champion, and everyone will be looking at me because Olivier is not here. As a professional you have to live with the pressure. I've shown that I can have good races under pressure. It's motivating, too."

We'll look forward to seeing many more great races from the motivated Mauch in the future!

You may contact Kevin Mackinnon at kmackinnon@ironmanlive.com