4 posts tagged challenge

Inspiration: it is at the heart of the IWC Challenge series, which we first introduced a few months ago. In this series, we highlight the outstanding accomplishments and continued perseverance of some of the world’s top athletes; they share our focus on hard work, innovation, and being best in your field.

One of those featured is Swiss triathlete Ronnie Schildknecht, a six time winner of Ironman Switzerland. As part of the IWC Challenge series, Ronnie shared with us (and you) how he approaches each event, which of the three segments he feels is his strongest, and what he sees as a need for balance in the level of sacrifice world class athletes give to their sport.

Ronnie Schildknecht with his bike and swimming gear

This year alone he has won three events in Switzerland, and around the world in such places as the USA (Texas), Austria, and South Africa. All these have led him to this point- as he is about to embark upon the ultimate of the year’s races.

Today, we send our wishes to Ronnie as he prepares to compete on October 13 in the Ironman World Championship, in Hawaii. It is a grueling competition amongst the world’s top triathletes. As Ronnie described it, the focus of the event in Hawaii is different because of the winds encountered during the cycling portion, which makes the swimming leg more important than usual.

Just one of Ronnie’s Ironman trophies

When we spoke with Ronnie this week, he kindly took the time to answer a few questions for us about what is in his racing kit – and we thought you may be interested to know what a top athlete finds essential:

Goggles, a cap and a swim suit are essentials for the water

As he has three distinct events, each of them requires particular equipment. For cycling: a trial bike (packed in a box), two helmets, cycling shoes, and spare tubes & tires. For running, he brings two pairs of running shoes. And for swimming, there are a few pairs of goggles and a Sailfish (TM) swim suit.

Ronnie also packs ten water bottles for his bike, sunscreen to prevent burning, and salt tablets to maintain his levels of electrolytes. When training he told us he wears an IWC Aquatimer Chronograph – but that he needs a watch with time splits when racing. Here the Ingenieur Double Chronograph could be useful, with a split-seconds hand that allows you to record lap times while the chronograph seconds hand continues to run.

Ronnie after a recent triathlon win (Source)

Join us in wishing Ronnie the best of luck this weekend in Hawaii, and stay tuned for more exciting athlete profiles on IWC Challenge.

We know the IWC man enjoys a challenge. And we could all agree that cycling non-stop for 1000 km across Switzerland would be quite a challenge. Add in the country’s famed mountains and peaks and that ride now includes 13,000 meters of altitude difference! Definitely an event for the (well trained) adrenaline seeker.

Welcome to Tortour, the first ride of its kind in Switzerland. It involves singular riders and teams, both amateur and professional cyclists. The charter for the event includes the goal of creating a sustainable endurance race in the country, as well as promoting ultracycling and Swiss tourism. Potential earnings will be invested in the development of the event and the support of charitable projects.

Tortour 2012 Route

Riders kick off the event in Neuhausen, in the North of the country. The route ends at the IWC Arena in Schaffhausen.

Highlights of the 2011 Tortour

In fact IWC is a proud sponsor of the event, and The Laureus Foundation (one of our key philanthropic partners) is a corporate team participant.

Cyclists in last year’s event

We send best wishes to all race participants – wishing them a safe and speedy finish. Ride on!

Image source: Tortour.ch

Rough, rugged, and ready for action. Are we talking about the world class athletes featured in our new IWC Challenge section? Well, yes. But we are also referring to many athlete’s favorite IWC timepiece: the Ingenieur Double Chronograph Titanium.

Rugged and ready to go: The IWC Ingenieur Double Chronograph Titanium

We at IWC like to say the Ingenieur Double Chronograph Titanium proves itself in practical use under grueling conditions, and we know that many of our featured athletes operate often under such conditions.

The 2012 Tour de France saw Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara wearing the IWC Ingenieur Double Chronograph Titanium while he raced. This is a rare occurrence in sports where weight is an important consideration (similarly an issue for Azzam’s crew during the Volvo Ocean Race) — but the Ingeneiur’s lightweight titanium case helps to alleviate that concern.

Fabian Cancellara in the 2012 Tour de France wearing an Ingenieur Double Chronograph Titanium

Additionally, this watch’s “rugged” classification is in part due to the use of titanium: it wears well, is not obtrusive on the wrist, and does not cause skin allergies. For someone like ultracyclist Dani Wyss, who is training to compete in the 2013 Race Across America (RAAM), extensively long rides necessitate a timepiece with extreme precision but that does not interrupt performance. The Ingenieur Chronograph is such a watch.

In fact it was the first in its family to incorporate a rattrapante, or splitsecond hand — this allows you to keep the stopwatch running (tracking your overall time) while resetting the intermediate hand that can time laps, turns, or other rates of performance.

The IWC with its black rubber watch band

For our friend, world renowned triathlete Chris “Macca” McCormack, this level of precision and time tracking can be useful; especially when you’re a two time Ironman World Champion as he is. With such a masterpiece of precision (or as we’d call it, an athlete’s most advanced tool), the watch comes with a 44 hour reserve and is water resistance to 12 bar.

Triathelete Chris McCormack with the IWC Ingenieur Double Chronograph Titanium

Whether rock climbing, swimming, sky diving, race car driving, snorkeling, or just wanting a sophisticated way to tell time – the Ingenieur Chronograph can deliver on it all.