In yesterday´s City Marathon in Duesseldorf, Germany
(http://www.rhein-marathon.de) it was officially allowed to take part
as a unicyclist. 15 unicyclists rode the 42.195km (also about 1200
inline skaters and 7000 runners). There were two categories: 28 inch
(max 28 wheel, min 114mm cranks) and unlimited. The two riders in the
unlimited category were Christian Hoverath (Hovi) on his custom-made
Coker and me, Frank Bonsch on my geared-up 28 inch (28 * 1,57 = 44,333
inch). The inline skaters started at 10 am, the unicyclists together
with some hand-bikes (hand-driven high-tech tricycles for handicapped)
at 10.30 am and the runners started at 11 am. Hovi an I could keep
pace with some of the hand-bikers and also passed some of the slower
inline skaters. We rode together for about 20km then he passed me. We
both managed the whole distance without any dismounts.
The results: Marathon 42.195km (26.224 mls)
Unicycle unlimited
1 Christian Hoverath (GER) 01:44:39
2 Frank Bonsch (GER) 01:48:20
Unicycle 28 inch
1 Philipp van der Wingen (GER) 01:57:57
2 Erik Kolb (GER) 02:06:38
3 Jan Logemann (GER) 02:10:35
4 Robert Mager (GER) 02:10:59
5 Thomas Hamann (GER) 02:18:42
6 Sven Wittorf (GER) 02:34:09
7 Christof Jakobi (GER) 02:45:45
8 Klaus Wilbert (GER) 02:54:26
9 Klaus Wolfbeisz (GER) 03:03:09
10 Michael Martsch (GER) 03:58:05
(some riders don´t appear in the list because they didn´t use the
official time measurement chip)
We hope that other organisers of city marathons will let us ride
because ist was great fun!
>
>Wow, that’s fast. That works out at about 24km/h average speed. Well
>done! What crank lengths were you guys using? Was it pretty flat or
>hilly?
Hovi and I used 125mm cranks. Most of the 28 inch riders used 114mm.
It was flat with two bridges over the river Rhine. Especially the the
river there was some wind.
Those are pretty impressive times Frank! Congratulations on a fine
performance. Just the other day I mentioned to someone that really
good unicyclists could beat the world champion (runner) on a marathon
but my statement met just disbelief. Here is proof.
>(28 * 1,57 = 44,333
>inch).
The math doesn’t work out.
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
Life is tough but it is a whole lot harder when you are stupid.
It should be noted that Christian (Hovi) Hoverath is still recovering from a knee injury he suffered a couple of months ago which required sugery on his patella. His doctor only gave him the okay to return to “light sports” activity a few days ago. What an animal Christian is.
I am a bit shocked that he raced, but still proud of my lil bruder.
Did you let Christian ride the uni1.57? I still remember watching him on the uni.5…he was scary. The guy is so fast. I’m impressed that you could stay that close to him.
>
>Frank-
>
>Did you let Christian ride the uni1.57? I still remember watching him on
>the uni.5…he was scary. The guy is so fast. I’m impressed that you
>could stay that close to him.
Hi Greg!
I think he had just a short ride on it at last year´s nationals. Other
riders spent more time on it. And yes: he is really fast. I would like
to know how fast he is on the geared up when he is completely
recovered from his injury.
>Those are pretty impressive times Frank! Congratulations on a fine
>performance. Just the other day I mentioned to someone that really
>good unicyclists could beat the world champion (runner) on a marathon
>but my statement met just disbelief. Here is proof.
>>(28 * 1,57 = 44,333
>>inch).
>The math doesn’t work out.
Sorry, the 1.57 is wrong. It´s actually 114/72=1.58333.
