Never before the competition has looked so much on fire, with the distances to the podium recoverable with a few points, a few strokes, rides, a few quick steps. TNatura sums up to find out who are going to be the AGE GROUP champions of the European circuit this year, but everything is still shrouded in mystery. Everything will be decided by the participation in the last stage of the journey, the race of Cross Triathlon in Slovenia on September 21st. Let’s see in detail the mens competition in the standings: - The fight starts in the 65-69 category, where MOGROVICS MICHAEL KNIGHT and ALFREDO are in the lead with 100 points and a game in their pockets. In the 60-64 group, PETER NAEGELI is now in the leader with 200 points and two games in assets, but is followed by VÍT HERAL (100 pts.) CORRADO HAIR (90 pts.) JIŘÍ KARVÁNEK (90 pts.), VALERIO CURRIDORI (90 pt.) and PAUL PANZAVOLTA (82 pts.), all participants in a single race so far. In the 55-59 group in first place with 100 points are MICHAL Bares and ROB BAREL, then EMANUELE POLGA with 90 points, 82 points for RON HENDRIKS and MARCELLO MEREU with 44 points. All of these athletes have only participated in one race, so they will need to enroll in Slovenia to gain their access to the ceremony. Hard fight in the 50-54 group, with PAVEL SANTO participant in all races of the circuit and therefore leading with 282 points, followed by JUERGEN FEHRENBACH, also worthy of having taken part in the previous three races, with 136 points. There are even THIERRY PELET, who scored 100 point only with TNatura Italy, and ANDREAS GRAF, IVO GRABMÜLLER and MATTHÄUS MEIER, all with 90 points. The battle for the podium continues between 45-49, led by DIRK PAULING with 200 points and two races. In second place is JÖRG SCHNEIDER, who has earned 156 points in the same number of races. In third position, with 100 points and one race, there is instead ZDENĚK TŮMA. Breathing down his neck are SIMONE CALAMAI, FRANTIŠEK BULAVA and GUY EVANS with 90 points, and ROBERTO PIRODDI and MAREK ŠČERBA with 82 points. Considering that the lowest score of the group is totalized by ANTONIO PODDA with 44 points collected in a race, it is not difficult to understand how a single more investment would upset all balances of the standings. Continuing with the 40-44, the leader is now ALESSANDRO BARALUMI, 2 races, with his 190 points. Following ANTONELLO PALLOTTA and JAN DĚBNÁR, one race and 100 points, and real close to MAURO GARAVAGLIA (two races) and PAVEL ROUČEK (one race), 90 points for both. Uncertain results in the 35-39 group, in which DANIELE FRAONI is the first two races and 152 points. Fabio Loi, also with two races, is now second with 126 points. Tied for third (100 points) for having participated only in a single competition, are FABRIZIO BARALLA, TOMÁŠ OBR, JOACHIM RENNER. Who will decide to race on September 21st will probably have the victory in his hands. Distances get bigger among the 30-34, with ALESSANDRO JERACI in first place thanks to his presence in all three European laps, that have guaranteed 236 points. TOMAS EBERL is second for now, with all the races done and 172 points. Third, with 100 points in once, are LARS ERIK FRICKE and MIROSLAV JANÁČEK. The situation of the 25-29 group has stalled, because STEFANO DAVITE, LUKÁŠ NETÍK and GÖTZ SAMI find themselves with 100 points and one entry -still not enough for a victory-. All following positions move away from them a few dozen points, so these athletes will face a still really open competition. Identical scenario between the 20-24, only the names change: PIERRE ROBLOT, DOMINIK WYCHERA, MARIUS EBERT. To end with the male youth, the 18-19 group is temporarily led by MARCO PITTAU and ONDŘEJ PETR with 100 points, and MATTIA PITTAU and ONDŘEJ OLŠAR following them with their 90 points. They share, once again, the participation in a single race. This means that they will also need to be in Slovenia to find a winner. - With regard to the Women rankings, although the number of athletes are still far below those of men, most of situations are equally blocked. TNatura wants to encourage the athletes to start a more considerable participation, to help give women a more significant role within the Cross Triathlon. Here we start with the group 55-59, with CORA MULDER and PETRA SCHOLLER tied up with 100 points in a game, still insufficient to enter the awards, because this will be only possible by having completed at least half of the stages of the circuit. Both athletes will therefore the Slovenian race to mark their names as valid in the standings. There is a quite different among the 50-54, with HEIKE STEININGER who’s by far the leader, with three races and 290 points in the bag, followed by MARTINA HEGER, with one race and 100 points. Back to the uncertainty, in the 45-49 group instead all the athletes on the list have competed just one lap. So, the 100 points of CRISTINA GIRIBON and RITA HAERTEIS are approached by the 90s of SIMONA ZURRU and 82 AMANDA DAWSON. Even the athletes in the 40-44 group must undertake to participate in the last race of the circuit to break the deadlock which sees SARA TAVECCHIO with 100 points, CLAIRE HITCHINGS with 90 points, till the 82 points of FIORELLA FERRARI and the 74 points of ELISABETTA MOSSO. Best in terms of attendance but still with lots of strive are the provisional ranking score of the 35-39 athletes, with KARIN HANSEN on the top step and 200 points in two races. GENZIANA CENNI runs close to her, with only 20 less points and the same number of participations. The third and fourth place are now occupied by LADISLAVA MARKOVÁ and MARTINA DONNER, respectively with 100 and 82 points. There is a net difference among the 30-34. In facts CHRISTINA HERBST, who collects 200 points in two races is way far from DARIA WOJCIK and her 90 points in a single competition. The scenario ends in a way that is similar to the rest of the Female Age Group charts, even if we’re talking about the youngest athletes. The 25-29 have so far participated in only one lap of the circuit, and neither the 100 points of LADINA BUSS and CORINNA CHOUN, nor the 90 points of ANNALISA BERTELLE are yet sufficient to the victory. The 20-24 group sees for now MARKÉTA ROUBALOVÁ and ELIZABETH CURRIDORI with one race and 100 points scored.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 07:42:05 +0000