National champoinship XCM

For the second year in a row the Belgian championship MTB Marathon is at the Raid Des Hautes Fagnes in Malmedy. A beautiful race with a bit of everything, technical climbs, downhills and rooty trails on the hautes fagnes.

Warming up

Checking, checking, checking...

The men will battle for the jersey on the 115K track and for the women it is 90K.

10 women are present this year, for myself the expectations are high, but it will be a hard battle because the competition in the women category gets harder and stronger each year.

WOMEN's start

After a good warm up Peter and I get ourselves to the startline. I will start 10 minutes before Peter.

This year the start is even faster than last year, but this time I’m not following and will ride my own pace. 
Temperatures are rising fast and the air is getting hotter and dryer. Drinking will be important. I try to race with my head and in the beginning everything goes like plan. But half way the race I start to feel nauseous. 
Did I eat or drunk to much, or maybe not enough water? Abandoning the race even crossed my mind, but that is not my style. I keep pushing but my energy is going faster downhill then I would have wanted.

Cruisin'

WTF?

At the end of the race I start feeling better again, but to late to make something out of this…

In just under 6 hours I make it to the finish very disappointed!

A little later Peter finishes too.

You can't beat the feeling.

Only first place counts at a championship, so I caal myself a loser of the day.

We washed it down with recoveryfood at Mc Donalds.

There's more coming up, other goals, teamraces with Peter,... So no time to loose and already thinking of the next race.