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Lene Byberg's Journal
World Marathon Championships 2007
posted by at 04:03 PM on November 26, 2007
When we arrived in Belgium on Wednesday the rain was pouring and it continued to do so until Friday. Thankfully, the skies started to clear and by Sunday morning the course was pretty dry with decent conditions throughout. The Marathon Events are slightly different to the crosscountry events, for those of you new to this. The main changes are that the marathon events usually take over double the time of a crosscountry event, so between four to five hours to complete as opposed to just under two hours. Secondly, the marathon events take place over one lap, so a lot can happen between one technical support area and another, unlike the cross country racing, which can be over as many as seven to eight laps. It is fun yet challenging for the backup staff who race around the countryside trying to find their feeds ahead of the rider’s arrival! Given that twenty kilometres of off road riding can separate the feeds, it is very important that the riders take the necessary spare parts with them to avoid possibly a long walk to the next technical support section. Women’s Race @ 8:15am: Great start but a day of suffering for Lene It is so difficult for the onlooker to watch how a rider is performing right through the race, because really once we bid farewell to the riders at the start, we only meet them again at each of the five feeds. A lot can happen between these feeds and the legs, which at some points can feel so strong, can suddenly feel so heavy! At the first feed, which was on a reasonable incline, Lene looked so strong. Just like Muhammed Ali, Lene was dancing on the pedals like a butterfly. Although, in third position with three other girls, what I saw gave me hope that Lene was on for a good day and perhaps a podium position. After speaking to Lene after the race she said that her legs never felt so good during those early stages. Benno and our soigneur Ian covered feed two while we “leap frogged” to feed three. After our usual conversation Benno also explained how Lene looked pretty good at feed three. By feed four Lene was dead! She absolutely blew and all I could hear was “I need energy bar”! She did not eat enough in the opening stages and did not take on enough food at the feeds, which given it’s her debut marathon race, was a good first lesson and will be a good learning experience. This is not a place any rider likes to be, but any rider who calls themselves a rider knows exactly what this horrible place is like. The word “bonk” is best used to describe that feeling of emptiness and a total lack of energy. To even comprehend continuing is a challenge, but somehow you soldier on in the hope that coke will fall from the sky. Lene made it to the finish, to her credit, so she can now deem herself to be a marathon racer! But I have never seen the girl so dead. It was a challenge for her to walk to the car afterwards, but her efforts will stand to her in the weeks to come.
categories: General
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