The Woodlands, Texas May 18, 2011--On Saturday, two Commerzbank athletes have the next important races on their schedule. Jan Raphael will start at Ironman Texas in order to collect KPR points for the worldwide Ironman “Kona Pro Ranking” which is decisive for the Hawaii qualification. Timo Bracht can already plan with Hawaii and will try to win his sixth Ironman title in Lanzarote.
The premiere of Ironman Texas is the first full distance Ironman race of the season for Jan Raphael. The athlete of Northern Germany has chosen a race with a high-class field for his season kick-off. For example, the Commerzbank athlete will compete against the American Chris Lieto who was ranked second in Hawaii 2009, against Eneko Llanos from Spain, the Belgian Rutger Beke and Timothy O’Donnell from the United States.
"I had a very good training camp in Clermont", says Jan Raphael. "I would be very happy if this training will pay off on Saturday with a good race."
A good result would mean an important step towards the Hawaii qualification for the 31-year-old. The second big step might be on July 24th when Raphael will race at Ironman Germany in Frankfurt - the Ironman European Championship. With a view on the statistic of his results in Frankfurt he seems to have a good chance because in four races he finished three times among the top 6 athletes.
Right now there are three Commerzbank athletes among the top 8 of the Kona Pro Ranking. Timo Bracht is on five, Marino Vanhoenacker on seven and Maik Twelsiek on eight. Team manager Jan Wendt: “Even if there are many points left to be distributed over the season, it’s remarkable to see three athletes of the team in these top positions of the worldwide Ironman ranking.”
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