ANUAL REPORT 2021

Dear friends!

So, now to a little report about this sporting year, of course with a brief outlook to 2022.

I don't need to mention that 2021 was not a normal year again. The virus restricted us in all areas of life, including sports, of course.

In addition, I had to undergo a spine surgery in May, which luckily went very well. After a few days of physiotherapy exercises, I was able to start training again two weeks after the surgery.

Despite the corona restrictions and my stay at the hospital, I was not idle in the past year either: On the one hand, I was able to put my new personal website online ( www.ultrapilz.org ), on the other hand I was able to achieve quite a lot in terms of sport:

There were a total of 86 swimming units (304 km in 133 hours), 118 bike rides (7,300 km in 262 hours) and 132 running training sessions (1,617 km in 158 hours) as well as 60 fitness and gymnastic training sessions (51 hours).

I completed a total of 396 training and competition units with 9,208.42 km in 607 hours, 57 minutes and 6 seconds. That means that I did 1 hour and 40 minutes of sport every day throughout the year.

Official competitions? There were only three in n2021, one of them virtual. In addition, I did some “private” events that I planned myself:

• the west-east crossing of Austria by bike together with my friend Robert Lintner (from the westernmost place Bangs in Vorarlberg to the easternmost village Deutsch-Jahrndorf in Burgenland; a total of 842.54 km with 9,122 meters of altitude).

• the Mondsee crossing (I swam with Miriam Aigner, Robert Lintner and Matthias Danzmayr).

• my private 24-hour swim in Pleschinger See, during which I was well looked after by Amalia Vilcinschi and Feli Lintner (41 km in 17:55:49 net swimming time).

The only ultra triathlon I was able to take part in this year was the Ultra-Czech with my Czech friends Adam and Kuba near Prague. Well looked after by my friend Andre Jungen, I was by far the oldest participant (now 60) and managed to swim 10 km, cycle 420 km and run 84 km in just over 31 hours.

But now a short outlook for 2022. The uncertainty as to whether competitions can take place or not has prompted me to plan some “adventures” myself.

• The world's first ULTRA WINTER TRI24 will take place at the beginning of March. Eight hours of cross running, eight hours of mountain biking and eight hours of cross-country skiing, divided into three days are certainly a “cold” challenge: https://sites.google.com/view/ultrapilz/own-events/2022-own-events/uw-tri24 

• From May 26 - 29 I start the NORTH-SOUTH CYCLING TOUR from the northernmost point of Austria to the southernmost: https://sites.google.com/view/ultrapilz/own-events/2022-own-events/nord-s%C3%BCd-radtour 

• The BLUE DANUBE ULTRA TRI24 will take place on June 4th and 5th. There are eight hours of swimming, eight hours of cycling and eight hours of running non-stop: https://sites.google.com/view/ultrapilz/own-events/2022-own-events/bdutri24 

• The DANUBE SWIMMING from Ottensheim to Linz will take place on June 24th: https://sites.google.com/view/ultrapilz/own-events/2022-own-events/donauschwimmen 

• And my highlight of the season will certainly be the UPPER AUSTRIAN ULTRA TRIATHLON: First I swim the length of the Attersee (20 km), then I`ll cycle to the 15 Upper Austrian district capitals (approx. 500 km) and finally I will run from Linz to the Schlögener Schlinge and back again (approx. 110 km): https://sites.google.com/view/ultrapilz/own-events/2022-own-events/upper-austrian-ultra-2022 

• I also want to organize regular FULL MOON SWIMMING sessions in summer. Estimated dates are: May 29th, June 29th, August 27th and September 25th.

“Official competitions are of course also planned. Hopefully they can be done:

• 12 hours from Bärnkopf: a twelve-hour cross-country ski race in Upper Austria (January)

• the Steiralauf in Bad Mitterndorf (cross-country ski race; January)

• the Lipno Ice Marathon in the Czech Republic (February)

• several rides with the randonneurs (200/300 km bike rides)

• the double ultra triathlon in Bad Blumau / Styria (July)

• and the Ultra-Czech near Prague (October)

As you can see: a lot is planned. Let's see what the body says about it. You can find the full list of competitions here (there will certainly be a few more): https://sites.google.com/view/ultrapilz/competitions/competition-plan-2022 

Of course, I would also like to say thank you: To Amalia for the many runs that we did together and for accompanying me on my crazy adventures, to Robert for the many sporting experiences we had together, to Andre for the absolutely perfect support in the Czech Republic, to Miriam for the common swimming events. Thanks also to my sports dealer Philipp Hehenberger from “Machsport”, my bike dealer Florin Popa, my masseuse Franziska Wagner, to Tanja Gratt for the physiotherapy treatment and of course special thanks to my trainer Thomas Doblhammer, who looks after my old bones, thanks also to Manfred Hofmann from Schuller for his support and all friends of the Ultra Triathlon family. It's always nice to swim, cycle and run our laps with you! I missed you very much this year!

I wish you and me a good year and many injury-free kilometers!

Here are a few photos from 2021: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Kv9pw83gDtv9gEEv8