Jonas Deichmann has been completing an Ironman every day since the beginning of May – and is gaining more and more competitors every day. He reached the finish line on Thursday. But he will soon have to look for the next challenge.
The small old town of Roth near Nuremberg seems deserted in the evenings. Only the Golden Swan restaurant on the market square is open. There the innkeeper serves specialties such as “bratwurst from the Brechtelsbauer Mäbenberg butcher’s shop” with sauerkraut or potato salad.
A warm summer evening at the end of August, the stones on the floor of the market square radiate the heat of the day. The guests of the pub sit outside, drink a last beer or ask for the bill. They are still waiting to leave, asking the waitress when he will be there. Suddenly there is a burst of cheering, people clap, whistle, hoot. A bearded man with a cap and sleeveless shirt runs past. Behind him are dozens of runners. A banner hangs over the alley: “Jonas, you can do it!”
The man with the beard is called Jonas Deichmann. He has been the talk of the town in Roth for more than three months. Deichmann, 37 years old, is a German extreme athlete. In 2021 he circumnavigated the globe in a triathlon; he swam in the Adriatic, cycled in Siberia and ran across Mexico. Last year he crossed the USA twice, once by bike, from east to west, then jogged back. In Roth, Deichmann is taking on the biggest sporting challenge of his life so far. He wants to complete 120 Ironmen in a row.
More than twelve hours before crossing the market square, just before 8 a.m., Deichmann climbs out of the Rothsee. He has swum almost four kilometers. He peels off his wetsuit, sits down on a camping chair and drinks a liquid meal, peach-flavored. A few people have come to the lake to cheer him on. Deichmann poses for selfies, he constantly has a big smile on his face. He says: “It’s like vacation, I just have to do some exercise.”
Deichmann wants to know what stress the body can withstand
Since May 9th, Deichmann has been completing an Ironman every day: 3.8 kilometers of swimming, 180 kilometers of cycling and finally the 42.195-kilometer marathon. Taking a day off is forbidden; these are the rules that Deichmann has imposed on himself. On Thursday of last week, the 113th triathlon is scheduled. He knows every tree, every stone, every house along the route. He completes Ironman after Ironman, whether in constant rain or blazing sun.
Deichmann says that it is not drudgery, but now a daily routine. Get up at 5:40 a.m. Muesli for breakfast. Start swimming at 6:30 a.m. Cycle at 8:30 a.m. Lunch break – pasta salad at 11:30 a.m. Marathon at 4:30 p.m. Then physiotherapy and dinner, Ghackets with Hörnli, for example, cooked by his father Sammy Deichmann, his most important helper in this project. Jonas Deichmann says that the routine helps him cope with the 120 Ironmen.
“I don’t question it anymore. I wake up in the morning and know that I’m going to complete an Ironman.” He thought about the sense and nonsense of the challenge beforehand. “Since I made the decision, I’ve been going through with it,” says Deichmann.
A tribute to his circumnavigation of the world
Deichmann does this for several reasons. 120 Ironmen is roughly the same distance as his triathlon around the world, which he completed in 2021. “It’s a tribute to this adventure,” he says. He also makes a good living from extreme sports; but that means he always has to look for new challenges to stay interesting. Deichmann gives lectures to employees of large companies, there is a book about him, and also a documentary on Netflix. It is called: “The limit is only me.” The sentence also represents his motivation for the 120 triathlons.
Deichmann wants to find out in Roth what kind of stress his body can withstand. His previous tours were always designed as adventures, taking him to inhospitable parts of the world. “Now it’s strictly about athletic performance,” says Deichmann. He chose the town because the “Challenge Roth” takes place there every year, the largest long-distance triathlon in the world.
Always a smile on his face: Jonas Deichmann describes himself as an optimist.
40 cyclists are waiting at the jetty at Rothsee. They will accompany Deichmann, the full distance or just part of it, anything is possible. An expensive carbon bike is lined up next to an even more expensive carbon bike. The athletes chat, talk about their achievements. One recently completed two Ironmen in a row with Deichmann – the young man talks about hard days, the heat and digestive problems.
Cucumber water against electrolyte deficiency
A woman is starting a long-distance race today and is planning an experiment. On the running course she wants to drink the liquid from a pickle jar; some endurance athletes swear by the effects of cucumber water. It is supposed to supply the body with electrolytes.
Deichmann, now in his cycling outfit, asks who will complete the entire triathlon today. More than ten people raise their hands, some nervously, others with a poker face. Then Deichmann says there will be four groups of ten cyclists each, with a distance of 100 meters between them for safety reasons. He himself will ride ahead. As is usual in triathlon races, he forbids himself from riding in the slipstream.
The groups set off, the route leads through coniferous forests, past farming villages, along corn and rapeseed fields. The sun is already burning in the morning. The companions have traveled from near and far. A 40-year-old has spontaneously taken the day off. The woman has traveled 500 kilometers from Braunschweig, she set off in the middle of the night. Before setting off, she takes a nap in the car. She says she really wanted to accompany Deichmann at some point.
He longs for two hours of solitude
Along the route, especially on the climbs, there are always people waiting for Deichmann. After 90 kilometers, he gets off his bike, half of the bike route is done. Deichmann eats pasta salad, with different ingredients every day. Then he takes a nap. But soon he gets back on his bike. If he takes a longer break, it will be too late in the evening. Deichmann then has too little time to recover before the next triathlon. To save time, he sometimes eats during the massage.
The cycling route is over, Deichmann withdraws and drinks an espresso with an ice cube in it. Several dozen runners are waiting at the start line for the marathon. Deichmann says: “I only have peace in the toilet, in the shower and in bed.” He says that he had hoped that he would encourage people to do sports. But he did not expect that so many would join him.
The marathon route runs along the Main-Danube Canal.
He says: “The many people who want something from me are the biggest challenge.” He would like to have some peace and quiet again, just for two hours, as he says. After the 120th triathlon, he will be away for a few days. He won’t tell anyone where. “I don’t want to be found,” says Deichmann. Then he goes to the start of the marathon and asks who is running the whole route and whether all the long-distance runners have had a good day so far. Deichmann seems like a mixture of entertainer and tour guide. A young woman is wearing a T-shirt with the inscription: “Fresh and alert for the first long-distance race with Jonas. It’s going to be awesome.”
In the “Death Zone” he talks about the last few months
Deichmann deviates from the cliché of the dogged extreme athlete. He never speaks of a “marathon”, but rather of a “short run”. The exertions do not seem to bother him; on the running route he chats with his companions and greets spectators on the side of the road. He once told the NZZ that he had never failed in his life.
With the current project, he wants to give other athletes the opportunity to face challenges. Some are trying the marathon or long-distance triathlon for the first time. Others are completing two or more Ironmen in a row for the first time. Deichmann says: “There is no entry fee and anyone can drop out at any time, which makes it attractive.”
Deichmann runs along the Main-Danube Canal, the sun is setting behind the horizon, it is the last few kilometers of the marathon – triathletes call this part the “death zone”. Deichmann talks about the past few months. The beginning was hard because the body had to get used to the strain. He has been exercising for months, between 14 and 15 hours a day. “Physically, I’m fine, even if I feel a basic tiredness and have lost my explosive power.” He is an optimist and can focus on a goal. “I always knew that I could do 120 Ironmen,” he says. And people believe him.
The anxious grasp of the thermometer
Some doctors believe that Deichmann is endangering his health. He says: “Nonsense!” He is also a subject of study in Roth. Sports scientists at the University of Nuremberg examine him regularly. Such long-term stress has not been researched much.
In the first few weeks, however, Deichmann struggled from problem to problem. His back hurt. Then his Achilles tendon. A cold followed, and Deichmann sat on his bike for hours in the pouring rain. The days with a cold were the hardest mentally. It was clear to him and his doctor that he would stop if he developed a fever. He took his temperature every evening, then waited anxiously for the result. “I was always aware that a fever or a fall could force me to stop. That was the hardest mentally because it was out of my control.”
Early in the morning, Jonas Deichmann swims almost four kilometers in Lake Rothsee.
To stay healthy, Deichmann and his supervisors went into a bubble. No one shakes hands, they don’t meet other people outside the course. They do this, among other reasons, because Deichmann was aiming for a world record for the most consecutive Ironmen. In mid-August, on day 106, he beat a Brit’s record. Deichmann says: “That made the rest easier. I can finish the project mentally with ease.”
In Mexico, police officers with assault rifles accompany him, in Roth two law enforcement officers on e-bikes
Deichmann is in the final meters of the day, it is dark. With his cap and beard and with other runners in tow, he is reminiscent of Forrest Gump. In the film of the same name, he ran across the USA and gathered companions around him. Deichmann is supplied with drinks from a cargo bike that has the words “Run, Forrest, Run” written on it. Loud music blares from the speakers on the bike. Deichmann says: “The run should be a party, a relaxed affair for everyone.”
When Deichmann ran around the world through Mexico three years ago, the local media called him the “German Forrest Gump.” Back then, heavily armed police officers with assault rifles accompanied him in dangerous areas. In Roth, two law enforcement officers on bicycles escorted the running group safely through the darkness. Their e-bikes are equipped with blue lights.
Deichmann runs towards the finish line in the city park; hundreds have come to applaud him. The local fire brigade was there the evening before, forming a line of hoses and vehicles and blaring the sirens. “It’s crazy what happens sometimes,” says Deichmann.
Now he wants to eat, recover and, above all, sleep. There are still seven triathlons left. Deichmann says that physically he would keep going. “But mentally that would be impossible, I wouldn’t be able to muster the focus.”
Deichmann will reach his destination on Thursday. He will have swum 456 kilometers, cycled 21,600 kilometers and run 5,063 kilometers. People from Roth sometimes ask Deichmann what they should do when he is no longer there. A “run” perhaps?
With his 106th Ironman in a row, Deichmann breaks a Briton’s world record.