Interview with Richard Borgschulze aka Bruzzler, the biggest beard in Ironman
December 17th, 2008 by nikola
Write something about you? Introduce yourself? Where are you, what do you do, what do you love etc…?
Hi everybody, greetings from the longest beard in the ironman scene 
! My name is Richard Borgschulze. I’m German, living in Villach, Austria. Most people call me “BRUZZLER” which is my nickname as a musician. Apart from my job as a design enigneer for electronic circuits I run a rock & pop music liveshow. Part of this show is paying tribute to ZZ Top, the long-lasting bluesrock band from Texas. If there wasn’t a word for cool, you would call it “ZZ Top” - so why shaving? Long beards are most fashionable, aren’t they? … 
How did you decide to do your first Ironman?
As an average sports hobbyist I was always impressed by people who do marathon running. So I dreamed of trying it at least once in my life. When your boss tells you he did one, time has come to show you can too, right?
No one expected the long-bearded guitar-player to do fine with sports and I got a lot of positive feedback. Isn’t it fun to irritate narrow-minded people with facts they don’t expect? All the positive feedback was sufficient motivation to go for the top discipline - the Ironman competition. Once in
my life …
What is your favorite moment in Ironman?
To be honest, I’m always glad getting out of the water … However, what I like most, is the human moments. At least for us non-professionals we don’t fight each other, we fight ourselves. As a result we help each other whereever we can. I treat everyone on the track as my friend and I know many
others do so as well. I guess that’s why they call it the “ironman family”.
It does not matter whether you are from Serbia, Africa, Russia or the US, no one cares if you are poor or rich, old or young - we respect each other and that works. I whish we could spread this spirit to other parts of our life, too.
When going gets tough what inspires you most?
One of those good looking irongirls running in front of you can cheer up your thoughts big time, right? The good karma the Klagenfurt spectators spread along the course helps a lot too. With my waving beard I get some funny comments which make me (and others nearby) smile even when I feel tired. I think Mark Allen mentioned it many times: don’t forget to have fun.
What is your Ironman future?
Unfortunately, I had to cancel next year’s competition due to a knee injury. (Don’t drink and jump!!!) That brings back to your mind to always take extra care for your health. This is of higher importance than being faster than your mate.
I hope to get back to the 2010 ironman Austria event. At least this is good motivation to start training again soon. For 2009 I whish all athletes and fans a great season, no injuries and good times during training and competition!
