Courtesy: SLH Communications

Professional triathlete Lucia Kuhner (Gromitz, GER) steamrolled the mountains today in her fourth-place finish at the 21st Internationaler Allgau Triathlon Classic (2 km S/92 km B/21 km R) amidst Bavaria's Allgau Alpen mountains in southern Germany.

"I've been training here recently and it paid off. The mountains were nowhere near as bad as they would have been," Kuhner said of the bike and run course, which followed her second fastest swim of the day. The bike course hits a 18-percent climb only about 500 meters into the ride, but the spectators provided a Tour de France-like feeling and cheers to push them up, according to a number of the 700-plus athletes. And then the climbing continues. "I rode hard today, I wanted to push myself to prepare for Ironman Canada," she said.

Her coach, Daniel Kezele (CRO), said she's going to keep riding hard over the next few weeks, and both are looking for her to race strongly there. Kezele, incidentally, placed sixth overall among the men, with a 4:40:09 finish. He'll race at Penticton, Canada, too.

Looking around the mountains surrounding the soccer-and-track- and-field finishing stadium, the medical doctor-athlete had a smile on her face. "This is such an amazing place to train and race - look how beautiful it is here. I also know a few of the girls and they wee pretty strong, and you need that for a good race. Plus, it's such a well organized race, and the directors are just so generous to everyone here."

Kuhner will race again in the mountains at the upcoming Ironman Canada, on August 24th.

For complete results of the 21st Internationaler Allgau Triathlon Classic, please visit www.allgaeu-triathlon.de.