Dirk Bockel Out Of Ironman World Championship
Luxembourg's Dirk Bockel has announced that he will not compete in the Oct. 11 race.
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The start list for the 2014 Ironman World Championship has lost its first star as Luxembourg’s Dirk Bockel has announced that he will not compete in the Oct. 11 race. Bockel, who has finished as high as fourth (2011) in the race, made the announcement in a press release through the Uplace-BMC Pro Triathlon Team, which he is a member of.
“The decision not to race in Kona this year has been very hard for me,” Bockel said in the statement. “It took me a long time to come to that conclusion, as Kona has been and still is the seasons’ goal every year. It has been a struggle for me to come to the point that health is more important. It is sad, but this is sport, it is very brutal at times. I deal with it, I will still go to Kona to support my team. Right now, I can do almost no training, which is a little bit frustrating at times because the injury does not heal as fast as I hope. It is very hard to make plans for the future. For now, the plan is to get healthy. Afterwards we have to see how we continue with the race plan. The goal is to be fit for the race in Bahrain on the 6th of December. It is the first time I go through an injury like that. It is frustrating, but this is not the end of the world. I am very much looking forward to go back training very soon.”
Check back for more on the 2014 Ironman World Championship as the race gets closer.