Sunday June 24th my coach and I went to Roth.Yvonne was racing in Roth, first time racing in Roth, first IM-distance race.You probably read all the race reports on triathlon websites. Sub 9 hour race, about one minute short of Paula Newby Fraser’s world record.Yvonne and I have been friends for a while now, through Frank Senders, our coach and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world to support her during the Quelle Challenge in Roth.

After the swim, we saw her coming out of the water 10th (pro women) with seven miuntes behind the lead. Then after the first 90k lap she was 6 minutes back in 3rd place behind Joanna Lawn en Belinda Granger. She already had a 6minute gap on the number 4.Just before the route to T2 we saw her again, 3rd place still and a five minute gap to the leaders, still Belinda and Joanna, by then the gap to the number four pro woman was OVER 12 minutes. My coach and I where surprised every time we saw her she looked like she just started the race. Real chipper she’d say "Hi!" and wait for us to tell her what she already knew, her place and the minutes she was behind the lead.Then we lost her for a bit, we didn’t see her until halfway through the marathon. Frank raced Roth four times and knew where to go to look for Yvonne on the course. We got to the point and asked if the first woman had past, this guy said no. I turn around and Joanna Lawn goes by. "Damn, that’s Joanna, mark the time!"I pressed my stopwatch and wait for number two, expecting Belinda Granger, because we knew Yvonne was running fantastic the last couple of weeks, but Belinda and Joanna are great runners. When after 50 seconds Yvonne rounded the corner, Frank and I went completely APESHIT!
"FIFTY SECONDS BEHIND JOANNA, SECOND PLACE! GO GET HER!"

Frank and I shared the same thought and we where both scared to say it out loud:"A long distance debut with a podium place...no..a wim in Roth?"We headed back to the finish and started texting everybody following the race.And then it went from apeshit to worse. We started calculating and knew a sub nine was possible. When she crossed in 08.52 the whole place exploded.

I was so proud of Yvonne and so happy for her. I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.Her life got turned upside down, she already was a successful athlete before this, but man, the media exposure went through the roof after Roth. Well deserved and well done!
Check out her site ( in Dutch) yvonnevanvlerken.nl
or http://www.stapsport.com/