After not having participated in any Xterra since July 2019, I used the opportunity of this major event as a re-entry. I arrived on Thursday evening. After a 6 hour drive, I just fell into bed. On Friday the “short track” race was on the schedule, but not for me. Whoever wanted could really accelerate the day before the big race. I decided to use the day to recharge my batteries and prepare for Saturday. I started in the elite because I've been a professional since 2015. The starting gun was fired punctually at 11:30 am and 31 elite men ran into the water to complete 1.5km on 2 loops with shore leave. 1 minute later the elite women started the race and 2 more minutes later all the rest. Several hundred athletes.
The pace was really high again, and the leading group really accelerated in the water. Quickly switched from swimming goggles to cycling shoes, I was already on my mountain bike. I was really motivated. The first part of the route was flat to the next place, but there were 30km of trails and forest roads with several meters of altitude waiting. The intensity was a lot higher than my Triathlon 70.3 races 2 months ago and my thighs were burning. The advantage was that after every climb there was a really cool, technical descent and I had a lot of fun. In one group, 4 of us came back to the transition area, and as 20th I started the running track. My legs are really fast at the moment when running and so I was able to quickly work my way up to 15th place - until I finally got lost in the forest with a Czech competitor in tow. Only after 500m did we realize that we had taken a wrong turn and had to go back to the race track. We lost a good 4 minutes in the action, and since the competition is not sleeping I finally crossed the finish line as 20th in the elite. 🏁 Now it's 5 weeks of hard work until the next cross triathlon in Italy.
