Sportif!: Derf Completes Copenhagen Ironman, Excels at Looker Me! Feel Good Efforts, Not So Much at Efforts on Behalf of Ordinary Danes

The nation's blondes cheer on their god

"Ironprince" Frederik completed the Copenhagen Ironman today in 10:45:32, and by doing so, has gotten the entire nation's attention and support in a way that is so large-scaled that it is both amazing and embarrassing. The media is really in overdrive: "yay, little Freddie run run run wiff other peasants! His subjects carry him across the finish line!" It's really grotesque.

It takes serious discipline and focus to train for and complete an Ironman race. This is no mini-Ironman or half-Ironman. This was full on, run a full marathon, swim 3.8 kilometres and bike 180. Great accomplishment, no doubt. Kudos, Fred. Your dedication to the athleticism that such an endeavor requires is impressive and so is your finish time. For a 45 year old man, you should feel quite satisfied with the results and your own efforts. You earned a celebratory beer and an excellent night's sleep. But tomorrow is another work day for most of the people you competed with. They'll get up at 6 or 7 in the morning, get the kids off to day care or school, then head back to the office, and while they may take an hour or so to be lauded by co-workers, asked questions, and given praise, they'll eventually settle into their work and soon be back on the phone, working with clients, chatting with vendors, meeting with management. Alas, where will Fred be? Still patting himself on the back, sleeping in, allowing himself another beer, a kick-back afternoon, maybe let chef put a little extra mayo on his lunch, taking calls from his mates who tell him what an amazing thing is that he did, what a stud he is, how they're hearing their own co-workers and friends talk about their incredible crown prince. Then off to San Francisco to watch the America's Cup races.

Yeah, eat it up, Fred. Squeeze the last drop out of it. Because you might as well be the only beneficiary of your training, dedication, hard work and focus. Goodness knows you won't use those same energies on doing amazing, incredible sporty things for your fellow Danes. Please don't bother assisting the overweight kids in your country with organized sporting activities who could use some royal attention. Please don't bother with the physical well-being of the less advantaged children in your country whose families cannot afford trainers or decent equipment so that their children can enjoy a healthy lifestyle. Please don't be inspired by the love you have for Isabella to bother concerning yourself with the participation in athletics by girls in particular in your country. Whatever gives Fred his jollies should be of the highest priority! Scroo the rest! Well done, Fred, well done.

Video: DR

Video: YouTube/Billed Bladet

Article: Berlingske

Iron Prince

The best had reached an hour in the rain on the bike and was already somewhere in North Zealand. But the last third of the coming iron men saw no real difference between water and land.

It rained for support as they ascended the leaden water after 3.8 kg m swimming and sat in the saddle of their bikes.

"Keep to the right!", shouted one participant angrily as he would overtake another on Amager Strandvej. But otherwise there was quite peaceful and uneventful start to the large-scale whole-day event, reported a police officer who guided passing the street the last half hour before the last rider came by.

Slowly there was the dead sound of the foghorn and commentators in the speakers and the normal weekend mood returned to the artificial beach park at Amager. The turbines were spinning lazily, planes took off and landed back at Kastrup airport, and a family in yellow oilskins carried their sea kayaks down across the wet grass.

By noon the action assigned to the Internal Copenhagen. Already on Kongens Nytorv you could hear and feel the vibrant atmosphere at the node at the corner of Harbour Street and Danmark's National Bank. Several hundred spectators had chosen to this post, where you could see the participants finish the bike and start on the last discipline, namely the almost 42-kilometre marathon, ending the triathlon.

After a total of 180 kilometres of cycling participants clicked on their bike shoes at the last few metres along the National Bank and ran barefoot the few feet over to the post of Harbour Street, where they were handed a red bag containing their running shoes. So far helped the woman, who sat with her family in a black Volvo V70, a little off events are not. Her bike was strapped behind, while she sat livid on the chair and looked like a sister to Frankenstein's monster - a crash gave her several stitches in his forehead and put an end to Ironman dreams in this game.

The organizers of the KMD Ironman Copenhagen are American, and the commentator had also just the right accent in his encouraging shouts. Many received a "Enjoy your run!" or 'Bring it on! You guys are AWESOME! "On the road. Commentator reached even more of the participants' names onto his iPad, so he could give them a personal pep talk: "Come on, Axel!" was one of the better North Zealanders.

The atmosphere grew when the first Danes approached, or when the first women entered. But the applause reached new heights when our 45-year-old crown prince got off the bike in good time, ran over by his shoes, and soon after went down to the Black Diamond in his white suit with Danish flag on the back.

I wonder if he got a drum roll on the road when he passed the 10-year-old Boris? He certainly had taken both his alarm horns and his snare drum with down to Harbour Street to cheer on his mother and father, who both took part.

With Caroline and Peter Heering's daughters Emilie and Rosemarie, who is Xian's classmate at Tranegaard School

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos: Jens Astrup