...supported an extraordinary and powerful team at the ultrasportive adventure «Gigathlon 2006» in Switzerland on 07/08. July 2006.

Gigathlon is not a special sports discipline, this unique sportive event consists of swimming, cycling, MTB, inline skating and running. It is an internationally protected event conceptualised by the accredited advertising Agency Peter Wirz AG. This attractive combination has been developed into a well-known, spectacular 24hrs of endurance sports competition.

The World Premiere was held in 1998 from Bergell to Zurich bearing the theme «The Ultimate Gigathlon» and was perfected in 2000 for its second feature under the theme «The great Challenge around Switzerland!» This second Gigathlon aroused a unique fire and fanatism in Europe as many professional athletes started to form teams.

The event created not only time and ranks, but also specific, new, adventurous, common experiences, spectacular stories and the inextinguishable memories - with other words: adapted to real Gigathletes! ... was invoked to support this fantastic spirit and this year’s motto «24 h - l′aventure continue» - 24 hours, the adventure goes on...by its own mix-team. The mix-teams consist of 5 athletes, at least two ladies are invited to compete for the best honours. Only 900 teams can participate at this challenging competition with over 4.500 brave gigathletes. 2.000 applications were counted, Jupiter stood next to us and delivered the expected team ticket!

On 07th of July at exactly midnight, 0:00, the start was launched for the new Gigathlon! Olaf Reitenbach is an experienced triathlete, 8-hours-Ironman (3,8km swim - 180km cycling - 42km running), European Champion and German Champion on the long distance. From Geneva in a big starter field Olaf expected extreme challenging 166kms and 2200ms difference in altitude. The race stretched across the Col-de-la-Givrine with a short trip to France through the Vallée-de-Joux into the Val-de-Travers and finally to the stage goal of La Chaux-de-Fonds. Olaf is well-known for having a very strong second race half, he is the clamberer amongst the cyclist. His excellent result: 5:13:23 (rank 96 of 900) for this exhausting leg, he laid the cornerstone for the successful finish of our team! The «baton» was handed-over to our Olympic-Seventh of the Big Games in Sydney 2000, Ivonne Kraft. In the dawn Ivonne competed with her MTB over a distance of 61kms and 1.330ms difference in altitude from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Aegerten. The efforts of the ascent to the Montperreux and along the Comb-Mauley up to the Chasseral, the highest point in this beautiful area, was rewarded by a terrific view over the 3-lakes-landscape, famous worldwide for its picturesque postcards and posters. On the technically demanding descent on single-trails the biker got on its money worth – high speed parts with alternating narrow alleys required the bikers’ full concentration! From Lamboing the race continued to Magglingen, 1.085ms MSL, finally to the stage final of Aegerten. This extreme challenging route seemed to be designed for our Olympian Ivonne Kraft! Her result: 3:09 hours and an excellent rank 46!

Andrea Bächli , our Swiss lady in the team, is generally known to be faster than a fish in the water! She is one of the fastest long distance swimmers of Switzerland. At last year’s Gigathlon she swam over a distance of 3.5kms in less than 45minutes! After the hand-over from Ivonne Kraft, she had to cope with a long 7kms through the Aare downstream. What an exceedingly natural maritime experience. Her result: extremly fast 1:06 hours and rank 17 amongst all swimmers! After the refreshing leg through the Aare our inline skater Eric Gilberg rolled through the scenic Sealand to Murten. The gigathletes had to overcome a distance of 44kms on a flat terrain, only 70ms difference in altitude. Nevertheless, the inline skaters stipulated on this long trip, the technicans, were able to show their advantages! Eric is a skating specialist, especially on the long distances with his marathon record time being below 1:09hrs! He kept an exact speed of 37kms per hour on the small wheels. His result: 1:36 hours and rank 26 in his discipline! Thomas Böckenholt was our running specialist; he tackled the last Gigathlon leg on the marathon distance and 500ms difference in altitude. The top athlete had to run via Mühleberg at the Wohlen-Lake and along the Aare through the Bremgarten-Forest into the country’s capital Bern. Thomas belongs to the top-three marathon runners of Northrhine-Westphalia, his record time stands at 2:29hrs - this equals 17 kms per hour! On the final leg of this year’s Gigathlon he caught the Olympic verve and carried the sportive fire of this excellent group of «TH-Aviation-ConneXions» to the finish in Bern! His result: 2:59 and rank 3 - the best individual rank of our team!

Fans, friends and affiliated experienced the exciting Gigathlon Campus in Bern. At this place interested parties enjoyed one day with famous Gigathletes. They analysed their running styles, adjusted the swim technic, gave nutrition hints, advised how to prevent sport injuries and how to cope correctly on hazardous single-trails with bikes. A close adventure for all sport enthusiasts - especially for all Gigathlon aspirants!