Seblach athlete of the year: ovations for christian birke
Standing ovations were given to triathlete christian birke, who went down in history as the best seblach athlete of all time, at the city reception on sunday at the DJK/FC seblach sports center. The 35-year-old from the town district of bischwind was ranked 198th overall and 40th in the most strongly represented age group M35 to 39 among 2300 qualified amateurs worldwide at the legendary ironman on hawaii in october last year. He finished in the time of 9:25:30 hours.
The ironman on the sudsee island has the status of a world championship. It consists of 3.8 kilometers of ocean swimming, 180.2 kilometers of cycling and a marathon of 42.195 kilometers of running. "I have fulfilled a lifelong dream. It hardly gets any better. I am one of the five percent fastest athletes on our planet in this fascinating sport", stressed birch.
His hobby is integrated into his profession as a personal trainer and health management specialist. His most important goals for 2020 are to participate in the european championships in the middle distance, which is about half the distance of the ironman, as well as in regional triathlons in bamberg and hof. "I would also like to bring my sport even more into the focus of the public", declared christian birke.
Team of the year
The table tennis men of spvgg dietersdorf, who won the title in their league, and the first soccer team of DJK/FC seblach were crowned teams of the year. After years of stagnation, coach mehmet ciray’s team won the championship in the coburg a3 class and was promoted to the district class. The team is currently in the top group and has a good chance of making it through to the district league.
In his laudatory speech, mayor maximilian neeb said: "sport is an all-rounder. The active among them know that sport strengthens social contacts. A well-balanced club structure is important, especially here in the city area. Sport brings people together, and here in seblach I am particularly proud of the fact that we also offer opportunities for people with disabilities. Our wefa is very active and organizes every year a race in which people with disabilities of different degrees participate."
Neeb described the old town run on the occasion of the old town festival as the absolute highlight of the year, with more than 200 starters from the city as well as from all over france and thuringia.
The city champions
The following people were awarded certificates and prizes as city champions in the respective age groups:
Old town festival/bambini run: ben schuhmann, jonas muller, heiner kilian, laura muller; hobby run: florentina eckardt, benedikt heimstadt, sophia pschirrer, julian lippoldt, laura wurstlein, adrian vogt, nils hebig, alexander leffer, daniela kuzmanowitsch, christoph ettel, andrea takacz, michael bauer, klaus heimstadt, raimund angles; team ranking: DJK/FC seblach I (julian lippoldt, stefan rabi, nils hebig, julian schulz); main run: anna amend, felix gagel, andre wittmann, volker nitzsche, sabine nitsche, terry schulz, matthias wendler, ulrike kuttner, ralf wurstlein, reiner popp; team classification: DJK/FC seblach I (fabian kestel, florian maier, felix gagel, florian braunreuther); 15. Run for the wefa: katja schmidt, ingo fechter, moritz neubauer, yavuz welder, christa knoch, jurgen schmidt, peter may, johannes beyer, carolin glas, heike wurstlein, marcus mann, thomas liczba; push: rudolf baumstark, hans-georg vondran, lisa baurle, jan wendler; team classification: landmannerleut heilgersdorf (johannes schlogel, arno schlogel, hubert heubner, ralf wurstlein); canoe: marcel schaftlein, nadine lindner, heiner kilian; "jungle olympics": paul zawidzki, amelie erfurt, hannes popp, ben knauer, lilli autsch; beach volleyball: "die vorstandskrokodile" (ingo kebler, birgit packert, frank packert); fubball: old men of SV heilgersdorf; team of the year/youth: fubball e-youth of DJK/FC seblach.
