Ironman 70.3 Wiesbaden

Time for our sporting holiday break! Only 10 days but, packed with activity. And fun stuff we want to share with you.

The first stop was in Germany. In Wiesbaden, close to Frankfurt. Here I, Anneke, was going to undertake my first real Half Ironman, the Wiesbaden 70.3 Ironman. I picked this half at the beginning of the year for several reasons, far away in the season (plenty of time to train), a hilly course, and well organised. It was a good choice, if not perfect for me to have my debut.

We left on a Friday morning to Wiesbaden, where the race was on the Sunday, we have a cute little hotel close to the start of the race. From the Tri team (Hellas) there were a number of other participants, all staying close by, so that was good. I even had my own cheer squad, my sister with the little one, Sven and a good friend of my sisters Linzy came down to cheer me on. They were camping just outside of Wiesbaden. The first night, Friday, we had dinner with them a the campsite. Saturday was the day of registration and getting organised and familiar with the course. As there were 2 transitions (one swim bike) and one bike run, we have to put our bikes in transition overnight. It was well orgnised; we were given bags to put our stuff in and assisted with friendly only German speaking volunteers! I was start number 511, first wave after the pro’s, so bike was raked all the way at transition entry. Then I gave away my white bag with run gear, which they took to the city centre for transition. It was the first time I didn’t get to set up my own transition, but I trusted the experience of the organisation, and all went smooth. Sat night we had dinner with the tri team and slowly the nerves were starting! I had done a bit of the bike course that afternoon, and the temperature had been warm, it was going to be a hot race! The expectations were, feel strong on the swim and ride really well… ! The time expectation wasn’t really there. Of course close to 6 hours was something in my head, but I wasn’t pinned down to it. It was expected for me to swim 45 min, ride 3 45, and run 2 hours or more.

Race day
A reasonable start at 8:10. Woke up at 6 for breakfast! Down at transition at 7 to set up the bike. Taped my gels and bars, the whole mission was eat and drink plenty and more! :-) . The Swim was out and back. 300 girls at the start, all in pretty pink caps. I found the start remarkable calm, not as much turmoil as I had expected. I got a good rhythm and to my surprise I was constantly close to other swimmers. I started to fell my shoulders are the turn around, but as I was on the way back, keep the arms going. I got out the water feeling great! Transition went smooth no problems and on the bike. I had done the swim in 41 minutes, to everyone’s surprise! One the bike my whole focus was eat, drink and don’t go to hard! Within the first 5 min I had eaten my first bar, and in the first 15 km, had finished my first bottle. The km were flying, I was surprised and just kept going. It was uphill for the first 15 km, and from there down to the first feedzone, it was like a supermarket! And there was my support crew! Nice to see them. The course was up and down, with some real down hill, with sharp turns and bouncy tarmac. It was still feeling good, the point between 60-70 got harder, but still feeling good. The temperature was rising as well. At the 70 km point was the hammer, 10% climb. Not too hard, but filled with support! Which was great, crazy men with swords and all dressed up giving the Tour de France feeling! Then I saw my support crew again, and had the last 20km to go. This was hard, lots of long slow climbs, real up and down. Then a turn right and 8km down hill! Over 70 km/h. The last energy gel and getting focused on transition and the run. I had done a great time, 3 17, way faster than anticipated! Transition was well organised, off the bike, which someone racked, a friendly lady who go my bag and set out my gear. I took my time, so I could refocus. As for my mental preparation I had always kinda stopped after the bike, thinking if I get there I am there. This is of course not true, and the 20 km were a long way to go. It has become hot, over 30 degrees, close to 36, which I didn’t train in much, as it never gets that nice and warm in Holland. The run was a 5 km lap, which we did 4 times. The first lap I almost cried! But I go through, decided I need to eat and drink, which I did and that helped. On the second lap, all went better, I decided I didn’t need to go fast, I just needed to go. I was so relieved to see my sister and Dirk at the side! Something to look forward to every lap! Every lap we were given a coloured bracelet, this became so exciting, that I never new I could get such energy from thinking I have 2 bracelets and you only 1, HA! This was how it went each lap, and once I had all 4 colours I felt like the queen! I had done it! Just the last lap! And I did! I did do it, in 6 17 total with the urn in 2 12…. Indeed no flying time, but good enough for me, and there should always be something to improve for next time :-)


In the athletes area, showered, found my fellow team friends! All had had a remarkable race, saw some out on the bike course and some on the run! A true effort for all. It has become hot and my support team deserved some attention, and I had a shower, picked up my medal! I am now an official 70.3 finisher. We went to the hotel to relax and that evening enjoyed pizza on the campsite of my sister!

A wonderful experience. Sport is great, when well prepared! Don’t worry I was sore the next couple of days, but recovered great on the holiday to Switserland which followed.

Holiday Swiss

Monday after the race we drove down to Switzerland and camped out near Le Landeron, where my family used to live. We had 2 quiet days. Did my recover ride in the hills!! And Dirk got to get some hills in his legs for the race in Verbier, which we were heading too.
We arrived in Le Chable, at the foot of Verbier, where we had a studio, with the Family Gaillant. A lovely spot on the hills, with the cows across the road and beautiful view of the valley and the mountains. It was all very steep, so a real effort on the bike!
We arrived Wednesday and Saturday was Dirks race. These days were filled, with our tradition ride up to verbier, (yes as the Tour did this year). Which was fun, with all the names on the tarmac! At the top I enjoyed a coffee and dirk continued. We also like always visited the Patagonia store and the icebreaker outlet, to get some good discounts! As the weather was still great, Dirk’s race was still planned for Saturday! Which he has written about himself… ! A great day, with for me lots of driving up and down winding roads!
(Photo Link)

Grand Raid Cristalp 2009

It has been a busy year until now with not too much time for some decent competition mountain biking. Some where in July I decided I wanted to compete in my 10th anniversary of the Grand Raid Cristalp. I really had to motivate myself to train because of the weather, rain seems to be coming down on me especially when I had to do my endurance rides. I don’t know how many times I had to go out with my rain jacket. On one day I went out for 5 hours when it started to rain after half an hour and it didn’t stop for the remaining 4 and a half! At least it made me tough!
Anneke had her half ironman the weekend before mine, so we packed the car and left for her race in Germany first, after which we drove to Switzerland where I still had five days to prepare myself for one of the toughest mountain bike races in the world. Summer was full on by now with temperatures between 35 and 40 degrees, really warm for this part of Europe, but nevertheless good for me to do some descend riding uphill. After a week of perfect warm weather the prediction for the race was cooler and cloudy weather with a chance of a shower. Race day we had to get out early 4.30 or so with the race start at 6.30. When we came to the starting area the temperature was really mild, I think around 14 degrees instead of the 5 degrees last year which meant the temperature on the first mountain top was below zero. After the start I went for a steady good pace and did overtake some riders on the wide starting road which leads to the upper part of the town of Verbier. From there I maintained my steady pace all the way to the top where I did arrive between place 20 and 25 or so. In the first descend I was expecting to be overtaken by some really fast, crazy riders as always, but that didn’t happen and I noticed I was the one going faster down the hill than the rest. So I picked a wheel and stayed there for the 16 minutes of fast down hill. After the descend I was together with 4 riders to set a pace. I felt the strongest of the 4 and after half an hour I had to leave my group behind to make sure I didn’t lose too much ground on the group in front of me. In the village of Nendaz, down one of my favorite parts the ski-slope which leads in to town, with at the end a sharp lefthander which brings you straight on to a steep staircase.

2.25 hours:
After some more ski-slopes I arrived in the village of Hérémence where I got some fresh bottles from Anneke who was following me by car. From here you have to keep your head cool and make sure getting over the next mountain named the Mandelon fast with not too much energy loss. I was only 10 minutes behind the leading group so still on a good pace. The top part of the Mandelon is a bit tricky with fast single tracks along the edge of the mountain and rocky parts up and down. Most of the time it is wet up there, which makes it more slippery, this year there were dry and wet parts. My ride went smooth.

4.10 hours:
After a fast descend I arrived in the town of Evolène, Again fresh bottles and some lube and I was feeling better than ever before. From Evolène it is up hill again, the last one but also the toughest, it goes up to almost 3000 meter. With this pace it would probably take me 3 hours to get to the other end. This last clime is a bit tricky with moving obstacles on the track, called slower riders! There are two shorter distances to compete in, where the competitors start in the villages of respectively Hérémence and Evolène. So eventually the faster riders from Verbier will bump into slower riders of the shorter distances. A free pass is most of the times guaranteed by shouting “VERBIER“. Reactions of rider on hearing “VERBIER” are really different, you have the ones that jump to the side to let you pass, than there are the riders who want to go to the side but are already so tired they go to the side reeeeeealy sloooowly, and there are the ones you have to tell three times and then have to push to the side.

5.45 hours:
I arrived in La Vieille at 2400 meters which is the last post before this horrifying clime to the Pas-de-Lona (2800m). I just got passed by two riders, but was able to keep one of them in sight. The first bit after La Vieille it is still possible to cycle, but soon after you have to get off your bike and push it up hill, this climb is fighting against gravity, lack of oxygen and steepness! I felt really good fighting my way to the top, and just before the top I got a really fast push by this sporty lady.

6.19 hours:
Pas-de-Lona. A short descend and then again up to 2800m, but this one you can cycle. I had never felt this good so far in the race and on the top of the climb I did overtake a rider. From here it is 25 minutes down hill to the finish. I was flying and finished in 7 hours and 4 minutes, almost 40 minutes faster than my second fasted time ever. So the next edition of the Grand Raid is already on my agenda.
(Photo Link)

SPRING TIME IN CRETE

Spring time in Europe is living up to its best! Especially on our 2 week holiday to Greece.. already seems like a long time ago now. We thought it would be nice to take this opportunity to share with you!


It has been over a years that we have now been living here in Utrecht, and a year that Anneke is back from Australia. It feels like an eternity, but at the same time our Australia experience has everlasting impact! Which is good thing. Dirk still studying away at his masters, which he hopes to finalize end of this year and Anneke has started to work from home, which makes her mobile but at times also very frustrated to be stuck home-alone. So on the look out for greener pastures.

After a long Dutch winter, with some good winter day and the opportunity to go ice-skating it was time to go and have a holiday. It was Crete where we ventured, because this is where Dirks parents have a house and we were invited to spend our holiday with them. They live in Livada which is on the south-western side of Crete, just north of Sougia tucked away in the mountains. It is a small village, which is reached by winding roads and still gets its water from the spring. As most villages on the island, it is inhabited with mainly elderly people as most young folk go to the city. So a tranquil, when the winds didn’t play up, spot to explore from. Of course we brought our bikes, but mountain bikes!:)

The first days we spend home and made a few small rides around the area. Early in the week we went down to the sea and dared to dip our toes in, but the water was still fresh. We enjoyed walks along the coast, amongst the plenty of goats and sheep. We had plenty of dinner with friends of the family and indulged in the Greek food and Cretan specialties. We did one long ride with Dirks parents to a plateau at the entrance of the Samaria Gorge. Which was 30km up.. and yes 30 down as well! :-) Luckily the roads are good and traffic is light so a safe place to be on a bike. We also did some off road biking and Anneke had her first real experience with riding, all this triathlon stuff (straight and paved roads) isn’t half as hard. We also had access to a nice little car and did some exciting road trips, we went to elafonis, which has lovely beaches. We also drove up north to the Gamvousa Peninsula and stayed a night in Kissamos. With Dirks parents we visited Hania and its old quarters. Besides all the activeness we had plenty of time sleeping in, reading and making a puzzle, which became an addicting and we would sit past midnight!

We met lots of lovely people and romantically contemplated the idea of staying.. but I am afraid that reason and especially Dirks realistic-ness have set those ideas aside for … a while… but you never know.

For those interested attached photos from our adventures.

We hope you are all well and safe.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RACE DAY

5 am.
quick jump out of bed and run around the block to wake up the senses.
5:15 am
breakfast. Auch.. that was more difficult than I had expected, the nervers were there.
5: 45 am
taxi down to transition with Mia. 3 bags ready, pre-race, transition bag, post race.
6:10 am
at transition area. The bike was still there… with all the others. It stayed overnight, covered in plastic, to keep sort of dry. Lay out all my gear, helmet, glasses, runners, number, run-cap, gloves, arm warmers.


6:50 am
Time to get ready. Wetsuit on. Lots of oil and Vaseline to get the wetsuit of quickly and to keep the feet warm. Timing belt on the ankle. Two swim caps to keep warm.
7:05 am
Last energy gel before the race and time to get in the water to get COLD! Water temp just around 12, 4 or something. It was freezing.


7:15 am
All the girls were gathered together to be ready to go. We had to line up on the beach on mats with numbers.
7:25 am
START

SWIM:
We ran in the water and I started swimming straight away. I had cooled down enough that I didn’t notice the cold so much anymore. All went well for the first 200 meters, then I got a kick in the face, which made me realize… there are more of us and ☺ I am not yet at the back! While I was out there the water became choppier and choppier. Navigating to the buoys was become difficult, every time you looked up you were welcomed by a big wave of water, taking your breath away. It only got worse and worse, the wind had picked up and the waves became bigger and bigger. Sometimes you tried to lift your arm out, but it never came above the water. The 1100 meter were long. From the last buoy to the exit, I kept being drifted off, and tried to start to focus on sending blood to my feet. I tried to move them, but there was no feeling from the ankles down. Nothing was happening.

I was so thrilled to come out, I think I have overcome my fear of ocean swimming, because this was ruff!

TZ 1
I ran undid my wetsuit, found my bike. Here I took it easy, I had to. Got the suit of, but was shacking. Arm warmers on, helmet, glasses, and gloves. I had some feeling in my hands, but non in the feet or ankles. We had to run on the grass (mud…!) and on the bike path to get on the road and mount. I just took off and put my feet in the shoes. Which was easy, but well! I was happy to be on the bike.

BIKE:
4 laps of 10km.
I had decided to take the first lap easy, to get the blood going and to warm up. This never really happened in the legs and feet, the upper body was fine. I didn’t have a clock so just keep going. Lap 2, picked it up a bit and had a gel. It was going well, and could do the climb steady, keeping the legs turning over. Lap 3 and 4 were the same, although now the course was getting busy. I gave it all in the last laps especially down the hill, were they tried to tell me to slow down! ☺ not happening.

TZ 2:
I had decided to keep the shoes on and run through transition, as we were coming down the hill so fast, didn’t want to undo the shoes down the hill and run in the mud. Took some time get rid of the bike, but all done. Helmet off, cap on. Then came the fun part. Socks! Thank God I had feeling my fingers and was able to force the socks over the ice feet. Shoes on, race belt and off I went.

RUN
3 laps of something!
My feet had no feeling, nothing, it felt like my toes were double in my shoes and I could barely roll my feet. I just though keep going, keep going. It was great course, many people and lots of cheering! Go the Netherlands. Go the Dutch. Here come the Dutch lady with the beautiful smile. Hup Holland. Rennen! So this was great especially as you did the same lap 3 times. I must say the last lap got very hard. I was trying to pick up the pace, but everything had been so cold that it was resisting a bit. The one good thing was that in the last 3km my feet were warming up, so I got pins and needles for a while…
I ran strong and was very happy to have pushed and pushed! I finished under the 2:30 mark and I wanted, and the individual legs were all very good! Official results not yet there, but it should be around 2:27: 33. I think around 1:08 on the bike, 49:33 on the run, not sure about the swim and then of course transitions.

A very happy Anneke (with now an extremely sore back)

And of course the biggest thank you to Dirk and Mia for the great support all week here and for taking the great pictures.

Tonight we will party like its 1999 in the MG down town.

Some photos, please click the link and have a look

Photos

14 Degree Water!

Monday
Dirk and I arrived, 2pm Canadian Time.. while we had left Amsterdam 2 pm as well… we were prepared for a bit of a jetlag. Mia was there to pick us up, which made everything easy. As it was middle in the night for us… we didn’t do very much. We visited the local shop and were amazed with the number of choices, much more and varied than back in the Netherlands.

Tuesday
We had no plan, and took the bus down to Stanley Park, where the event is, around 10 km from Mia’s house. A bit of a shame that it was raining, and cut our visit short, to a couple of hours, after which we went home, and had a nap… which ended up in 2 hours!
That evening, we went to a local Sushi bar and had great sushi, which were spoiled with in Australia, but isn’t yet around in Europe.

Wednesday
This was going to be a busy day… and it was. There was a swim familiarization at 7: 30 am, where I saw all my Australian friends, which was great. But back to the swim… it was so cold! I got in and my feet almost fell off, I submerged myself and realized that this was impossible and got back out.. I thought to myself.. how do I do this on Saturday?! I stood on the beach for a while and said to Dirk. This is too cold. Jo had advised me to let everything get really cold and go on. So I tried and it worked, I had a decent swim in the end… and got my confidence up for Saturday. After that Dirk and I walked across Stanley Park; to the Women Breakfast! The b’fast was great… but a bit overpriced… After that I had to register myself! Mia got into action here! ☺ the best volunteer so far. After that we upgraded Dirk to my Team Manager.. giving him access to everything! We went home and had a quick lunch and rest, to get back at 3pm for a bike ride familiarization. It is a very exciting course, lots of up and down for the first 5 km, than a decent climb of around 900 meters, after that a nice down section. And this 4 times! There are going to be some fast time. ☺ looking forward to it.

After that I found Dirk and Mia and Mia took us on a mad chase home!

Tomorrow, the morning will be easy and after that we have the country presentations and we will have the opening dinner.

So far so good.. now we just hope that the weather picks up and we have a dry race day.

Anneke and Dirk.

Anneke's World Championship Triathlon

It is hard to believe but there is less than one week to go before I participate in the World Championships for the Age Group athletes in Vancouver, Canada!
(http://www.triathlonvancouver.com)

As strange as it sounds, yes I am going to participate; which being a Dutch national isn’t all that complicated, but I believe still very rewarding. It has been strange to start doing some triathlon training and racing here in the low-lands. The structure and approach is very different from what I had been used to in Australia, but I must admit I was very spoiled there with the highly experience coach and an excellent squad!

After return in NL, I started training again, having recovered from a serious stomach bug. I struggled with the flat roads and missed the hills straight away! I actually wasn't able to get average speed up as I was used to. I started swimming on my own because the swim lanes with the club were so crowded that it was like one big traffic jam. So overall it took a while to get accustomed to the new training schedule. I did some great rides in the south of the country, getting some hills in there, it was gorgeous and there will be some more hours down there! I did one race to see where I was at, and despite a rather poor time, I was happy with the progress I had made.

As Vancouver started to come closer, I had to start organising my entry, my race suit, which now has NED across the stomach! It’s a great suit, but of course made for the man…. and is extremely see-through…anyway.. I have managed to solve that!

The last weeks I have started to focus a bit more on speed work (sitting behind Dirk!) and some block session (bike-run) which has been going well, so all in all I believe I should be ready for the big race!

It will be great fun, as I get to catch up with all of the Tridents from Australia, see a good friend Mia, where we get to stay, and have a rewarding holiday with Dirk, who has been the great support through-out this long season..!

For those who are interested, the race is on Saturday the 7th, and I have to start Canadian time 7 25. There will probably some sort of live cast from the follow site:
Live TriCast

I think they might only show the finish, which should take all in all around 2 1/2hours.


Until next time

Anneke and Dirk

Scott 24 Hour

Afgelopen weekend stond hij dan op het programma, de Scott 24hr. Twee weken geleden heb ik toch nog een goed team gevonden die nog zoekende waren naar een renner om te starten in de Scott 24hr. Het team stond ingeschreven als een Mixed-6 (Chalkers), met renners Jason Chalker, Meg Chalker, Paul Traynor, Aaron Moffatt en Dirk van der Walle (ikke dus). Mixed teams zijn erg populair bij 24hr races en een extra uitdaging omdat je het spelletje van zo veel mogelijk rondes zo slim mogelijk moet spelen en natuurlijk zo snel mogelijk. Met vijf team leden in plaats van zes had ons team nog een extra uitdaging.

Op vrijdag had ik onze tent al neer gezet op het voor ons beschikbare kampeerterrein, zo dicht mogelijk bij de transitie area. Op zaterdag hoefde ik dus alleen nog maar alle spullen naar de tent te dragen, pffff. Wat een t… eind.

Zaterdag 1155u was het dan bijna zover. Jason stond klaar voor zijn Le Mans start om na 400m lopen op de fiets te springen en zijn eerste ronde te rijden. Om de 2500 deelnemers een beetje te verdelen bestond het parcours uit twee rondes de zogenoemde rode met veel klimmen en de blauwe met veel snelle stukken en draai en keer werk. Alle teams met zes en solos starten op de blauwe, alle ander teams (onder ander alle teams met hele snelle mannen) op de rode. Het rode pacours was net iets sneller dan de blauwe af te leggen, met een parcours zonder achter liggers een gelezen kans om voor die $4000 voor snelste mannelijke als vrouwelijke ronde te gaan! Voor dat Jason binnen kwam van zijn eerste blauwe ronde en ik de benen mocht laten rammelen op mijn eerste rode ronde moest ik eerste zien hoe Sid, Dylan en Shaun in een record tijd hun eerste ronde aflegde. Ik gaf mezelf geen kans tegen deze jongens (waarvan twee WK gangers en Shaun ook niet de minste). Jason kwam als derde binnen en was het aan mij. Binnen vijf minuten had ik mijn twee voorlopers al binnen gehaald en zetten ik de gang er stevig in om een degelijke ronde te rijden. Niet ver achter me had ik alleen Ben rijden, zag ik al snel, met Ben train ik met regelmaat op de MTB. Hij wist de voorsprong van ongeveer 30 meter op mij weg te werken voor het eind van de beklimming en ik wist dat Ben sneller zou zijn dan mij in de afdaling en liet hem dus met genoegen voorbij. In de afdaling probeerde ik Ben nog even te volgen en liet hem toen gaan, ik dacht wij zijn toch geen partij voor de snelste ronden. Toen we over de lijn kwamen was het voor mij aan Aaron en bleek Ben de snelste ronde te hebben en ik binnen 1 minuut op de 6 de plaats! Met een iets beter vorm en meer kennis van de afdaling was ik heel dicht bij geweest. Ben wist de snelste ronde tot 6u ’s morgens vast te houden toen Sid voor een tweede poging naar buiten ging op een niet zo druk parcours en pakte de snelste ronde met 8 seconde, jammer voor Ben dus.

Voor ons was het voor zonsondergang serieuze business, we lagen namelijk aan de leiding, maar het team op de tweede plaats zat ons op de hielen nadat wij Meg naar buiten hadden gestuurd voor twee rondjes en ze per ongeluk hard van de fiets was gedrukt door Sid. Na nog een paar rondes en een invallende avond hadden we om 2230u een ronde voor sprong op het achtervolgende team. Voor mij was het toen al tijd geweest om mijn eerste avond rondes te rijden in het pikken-donker, met een licht installatie van Ay-Up op mijn fietsje. Damn, dat was even heel ander werk maar wel gaaf en met vier LEDs en een equivalent van een klein auto-tje aan licht zag ik meer dan genoeg.

Na mijn eerste avond rondes was het eten en gelijk de tent in en proberen te slapen voor anderhalf uur. Om 11u er weer uit om vervolgens om 1u weer op de fiets te springen. Na het fietsen douchen en even relax rond hangen met Paul, frietje halen en op eten in de tent met Anneke, die had de hele avond haar been uit haar lijf gelopen tussen tent en transitie. Daarna weer even proberen te slapen voor iets meer dan een uur. Damn, 5u weer op en een uur later weer op de fiets.

Omdat Meg helemaal bond en blauw was heeft ze in de avond één rode ronde gedaan en hebben we haar daarna laten slapen. De volgende morgen was het weer tijd voor Team tactiek we hadden nu twee ronde voorsprong op het tweede team maar reden algemeen op de vijfde plek, erg goed dus met allemaal snelle mannen teams voor ons. We hadden dus besloten om Meg nog twee keer naar buiten te sturen en twee keer op de rode ronde want daar was ze immers het snelste op. Ze had nu in totaal vijf ronden gereden wat genoeg moest zijn om voor een podium plaats te kwalificeren, de dames uit een mixed-6 team moeten daarvoor een zesde minus één ronde hebben afgelegd van het totaal. Omdat veel rijders moe waren, waren er de volgende morgen niet veel bikers op het parcours en ging ik nog eens voor een adrenaline ronde op de rode. Jason was even verrast toen ik een paar minuten eerder dan gepland mijn ronde afsloot. Na ongeveer 24 en half uur was de eerste plaats veilig, jammer genoeg kwamen we net 12 minuten te kort voor de vierde plaats algemeen.

Mijn eerste 24hr race was dus een succes en heel erg gaaf om te doen. Vooral het rijden in de nacht, de sfeer en het team spel is erg gaaf. Een super leuk team maakte alles kompleet. Hij staat dus zeker in mijn top drie. Met 2500 deelnemers was dit ook nog eens de grootste 24hr race ter wereld. Nadat we alles weer ingepakt hadden in de auto, langleven mijn Subaru die makkelijk het veld in rijd en we dus niet voor pakezel hoefde te spelen, tijd om naar huis te gaan. Pffff, helemaal op was ik, twee keer 12u slapen heeft me inmiddels goed gedaan.
Op naar de volgende wedstrijd.


PS. de foto’s zullen aankomende tijd nog wel wat upgedate worden met nieuwe foto’s.