Sofie Goos near Calpe (picture: Mario Vanacker)
Our 3athlon.be editor-athlete Gert-Jan D’haene spent a week with Vuelta Turistica at Calpe, since last year the residence of Sofie Goos. Besides spending a decent amount of time training, he took some time off to interview La Goos on her upcoming season. The Sportoase-Brunel triathlete had a surprise in store for us: for the first time in het career she will be at the start of one of the most legendary triathlons in the world in July. “Challenge Roth was still on my bucket list and before I retire, it is a race I would certainly like to compete…”
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Sofie feels at home in Calpe. “We had foreseen to stay in Calpe for six months. But the environment is ideal for training and my partner Jef is employed as cycling guide for Vuelta Turistica. We are quite at ease here, so we decided to stay a year longer…” Calpe is an ideal location to prepare for an upcoming season. For Sofie this consists for the most part of half triathlons during the first semester, both Challenge and Ironman, but on July 1st the first main goals comes into play. “My main goal will be Challenge Roth. I have never raced there before, and it is certainly an item on the bucket list. Before I quit triathlon I would certainly like to compete. That’s why I planned it this year and why I’m looking forward to it.” Last year, Bart Aernouts won this race, the second oldest triathlon in the world (only Kona is older).
Kalmar on the calendar the year of the incident
“Second main goal is the Kalmar Ironman. It was scheduled the year of the stabbing (Sofie got stabbed twice in the back during a training run in Antwerp in May 2016 – red.) but obviously couldn’t take place. I’ve heard it’s a beautiful race, which makes it a nice challenge for this year.” GJ is curious if this race might be part of a plan for qualifying for Hawaii once more. “Not at all, Hawaii is no longer a goal of mine. I’ve been there more than enough to know it’s the most important race, but the conditions just don’t suit me. There are a lot of other beautiful races I’d like to compete in,” says La Goos.
Original article posted by Hans Cleemput on 3athlon.be one 14/02/2018
Translation by @T0v3