Portrait
Philipp Avenell
- Member since
- 2017
- Lives in
- Islisberg
- Doing triathlon since
- 2017
- Favourite discipline
- Cycling, swimming & running
- Other sports
- Skiing, floorball
- Personal goals
- To keep learning new things and to keep developing off the sports field too.
- Post-race reward
- With a hefty portion of "doing nothing".
- Hobbies
- (besides triathlon): Cooking, looking after the triamt.ch website, cinema, hiking.
Why triathlon?
After I stopped playing floorball, I was looking for a new challenge. I started swimming, bought my first road bike, and the third sport in the trio wasn't long in coming. That's how I got into the sport step by step.
Above all I like the variety – none of these sports can be compared with the others. That makes it easy to keep training even on the not-so-good days.
How did you end up at Triamt?
Once it was clear to me that triathlon was THE sport for me, I searched online for a suitable club and came across Triamt. And I haven't regretted my decision!
What do you like about Triamt?
Fun comes first.
In today's performance-driven society you're put under a certain amount of pressure even in your free time. Hardly anyone takes part in an event just for the fun of it any more, and in Switzerland the phenomenon is particularly pronounced. A prime example: the Sempachersee Triathlon – if you swim slower than 2:00 min/100m, ride at less than 30km/h and run no faster than 5:00min/km, you'll quickly find yourself among the last to finish. That shouldn't be how it is; beginners shouldn't have to be half professional from day one, it puts people off and only drives the performance-driven society further. My philosophy: "Where I'm not earning money, what counts for me isn't the placing but the experience".
Weaknesses
I have no patience and want to be at the finish from the very start. Whereas the important thing to think would be: "the journey is the destination".
