JIMMY RÖNN: An 8-Day Finish?
June 17, 2024, 9:07 AM ET
Sullivan, Indiana
Jimmy Ronn (Sweden), the 44-year-old Race Across America rookie who’s led for the past couple of days is on pace for a stellar finish. Since starting last Tuesday, he’s put about 2,135 miles between himself and Oceanside, California.. As he rides toward Time Station #38 in Sullivan, Indiana, his closest chaser, Lukas Kaufmann (Austria), is about 65 miles behind him. Third place Dominik Meierhofer (Austria) is about 70 miles behind Kaufman.
Bearing in mind that the algorithm that forecasts racer’s finish times usually produces numbers that are faster than actuality, the current projection sees Ronn reaching the finish line on the Atlantic City Boardwalk in 8 days, 7 hours. Even if the projection is too optimistic, that gives Ronn a lot of breathing room to post a finish time of less than 9 days, something we haven’t seen since Christoph Strasser’s 2019 finish.
Only the biggest names in RAAM’s 43-year history have finish times that begin with “8 days.” The first 8-day was Pete Penseyres (USA) in 1986 8 days, 9 hours, 47 minutes (15.4 mph). After came Paul Solon (USA), Bob Fourney (USA), Rob Kish (USA), Gerry Tatrai (Australia), Danny Chew (USA), Wolfgang Fasching (Austria), Allen Larsen (USA), Jure Robic, Danny Wyss, Reto Schoch (Switzerland), and Severin Zotter (Austria).
Of course, Strasser is the only one to hit the magic “7-day” mark with his 2013 ride of 7 days, 22 hours, and 52 minutes, and his 2014 finish of 07 days, 15 hours, and 56 minutes.
Rönn’s is a former professional road racing cyclist. Between 2009 and 2019 he posted impressive results in his national championships and in some well-known stage races for the continental team Cykelcity.se. “I was fortunate enough to compete for Sweden’s only continental team at the time. These were great times.”
