Schongauer Tri-Team has to make a tough decision

The tri-team Schongau should have relied entirely on guest starters for its women's team in the 2022 season.

That now led to a serious decision.

Schongau - Four competitions took place last season - despite difficult circumstances due to Corona - in the 2nd women's triathlon Bundesliga. The team from the Tri-Team Schongau was also there, taking a respectable fourth place in the field of eight and thus confidently staying in the league. Nevertheless, there will be no more team from Schongau in the coming season. "We have decided to cancel our second division team," reported tri-team boss Wolfgang Ahrens.

From a purely sporting point of view, "this decision may seem incomprehensible," says Ahrens.

Because there was nothing wrong with the performance of the athletes.

“We were very satisfied with it, and the team also worked well,” says Ahrens.

Rather, the reasons for the withdrawal lie in the composition of the team: lately there were fewer and fewer local athletes in it.

"After almost exactly 20 years of structured and successful youth work, we have not recently succeeded in attracting enough youngsters interested in league competitions," says Ahrens with regret in his voice.

There is currently a lack of their own offspring for the league teams

If Schongau had reported a team again in the coming year, it would have passed without any active participants who had been trained by the Tri-Team. "That does not fit our objectives and is not accepted by many members either," says Ahrens. A team that only consists of guest starters is not an option for the club. "We prefer to put the money we save by withdrawing into the work of the youngsters," explains the tri-team boss. He doesn't rule out trying a fresh start in the league in 2023. "Provided there is enough interest among our younger athletes," says Ahrens.

How things will go on with the Schongau triathlon men, whose first team was in the regional league and the second in the regional league, is still open. “We still have to talk. We have a lot of former students with us who now have jobs and other priorities, ”says Ahrens. He fears that the first line-up, which finished fourth in the strong regional league with 14 teams last season, will also have to struggle with personnel problems.

Ahrens is a little happy that the year 2021 is over, because the tri-team was not exactly lucky.

In the summer, the Schongau division made enormous efforts to be able to organize the “Schongau Triathlon” including the German championship for the youngsters.

Capricious weather with continuous rain, which also led to falls on the bike course, finally made it necessary to stop.

Understandably, this caused a lot of frustration among the organizers.

“We're still looking ahead,” says Ahrens.

His eyes are already on the next "Schongau Triathlon" - there is already a date for him: Saturday, July 23rd.