VIDEO: Determined triathlete runs last 27 km of bike course with bike after mechanical, finishes race

A large number of races took place over the weekend but perhaps the most determined triathlete to toe the start line was German Malte Schlomer, who despite suffering an unfixable mechanical on the bike leg found a way to finish his race.

Schlomer, who competed in the 18 to 24 age-group at Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote over the weekend, was having a fantastic race that included averaging 1:31/100 m on the swim until all the sudden things took a turn. With almost a third of the 90 km bike course to go — 27 km to be exact — Schlomer’s fork broke and was irreparable on course. Though he suffered a fall on the bike and contemplated packing it in, he was so determined to finish his race that he ran the final 27 km with his bike into T2 before taking off for the half marathon that still awaited him.

According to Facebook comments on Ironman Europe’s original video (above), Schlomer was given a round of applause during the awards ceremony. Many compared his performance to that of Froome during the Tour de France this summer. Schlomer completed the bike course in 4:44:42 and went on to run 2:10:33 for the 21.1 km half marathon. His overall finishing time was 7:32:25.