German chapmionship ultratrail 67km in Bödefeld, Germany

Friday at 2pm we met with Georg in Würzburg. We drove with him to Marktheidenfeld. Lutz and Walter waited there. Originally we were six runners, but only four were left. The other could not start because of sickness and less training. We had 2.5 hours of driving. Because the roads where empty our calculated time of the navigation system fitted. We had an accommodation in Winterberg-Altastenberg. It was about 12 km away of Bödefeld. At least that was the theory. In the evening we went to Bödefeld to get our race numbers. Just before we reached Bödefeld the road was closed. So the distance rose from 12 km to 20 km. When we arrived the 101 km walker just started. Back at the hotel we planned to go for dinner. But we had to wait for awhile, because the restaurant was to full. We were also lucky with our accommodation. Because of the iXS and the race all was booked. The iXS Dirt Master Festival is the biggest mountain bike freeride festival in Europe (Source: iXS Dirt Master).

In the morning we left very early to Bödefeld. There we had a breakfast buffet. Yesterday we had some rain. Also this morning it was cloudy and foggy. So we had to dress warm enough. Nobody could guess that it would get very sunny and warm. At 6:30 am we started for the 67 km. There were a small amount of runners. Even though it was a German champion ship. I think there are two reasons. On the one hand there was also a 101 km course. On the other hand it was difficult to get to Bödefeld. The course had a 13 km loop at the beginning. Then we came back through Bödefeld. From there we went until we reached the turn around point. After we turned we ran the course in reverse. According to the elevation profile we had about 1500 pos. altitudes to climb. In reality it was not as worse as it looked on the paper. After the start a group of ten runners went away. I was one of them. But already during the small loop back to Bödefeld I lost them. It looked like it was not my day and I was missing some speed. But before the turn around point it changed slowly. I did not get much faster, but the other runners got slower. I passed one after the other. When the top runners René and Achim passed me after the turn around point, they were about 8 minutes in front of me. At the turn around point I was in 7th place and continued passing runners until I was in 3rd place. I did not give that place up for the last ten kilometres. I was satisfied with my time, even though I did not break the 5 hour mark anymore.

After finishing we stayed together for a while before we went for showers. After that it was important to get back the lost energy and the fluid. Meanwhile the sun came out and it was pleasant warm. So it was not bad to sit outside. Also there was not a long waiting time for the award ceremony. Because of that we could drive home early.