Fir 5. Kéier ass de Sören Nissen de 6. September un den Depart vum “Skaidi Xtreme”-Marathon gaangen. No 4. Victoiren huet sech de Lëtzebuerger dës Kéier no 3 Tier vu 15 Kilometer an 1200 Héichtemeter als gudden Drëtte klasséiert. Géint déi zwee Norweger Erik Haegstad an Ole Hem ass den Nissen dëst Joer net ukomm.
No senger Aventure an Norwegen wäert de Sören Nissen als nächst beim Marathon-Championnat den 3. Oktober zu Bruch un den Depart goen an de Wanter wäert een hien dann och beim Cyclocross ze gesi kréien.
On Saturday September 5th, I once again went to Norway in order to race the “Skaidi Xtreme” Marathon. This was the 5th time in my career that I went to this great event all up north. Within short time this race has become one of the most recognised events in Norway. It takes place in a wonderful and really special landscape all up in the Norwegian Finnmark. The town “Skaidi” is located on the same degree of latitude as mid-Greenland (have a look at Google;-)). Only the warm Golf current makes it possible for people to live up there. So it is really special!The race consisted of 3 laps of each time 15 km with 1200 meters of elevation all in all. Norwegian cross country champion Erik Haegstad and fellow marathon champion Ole Hem were the guys to beat in this event. A really strong field so the tactic were full speed and attacking every little hill from the beginning on. Technically I am for sure not one of the best riders, but from the previous years’ experience, I knew that the only chance to win was to make the difference on pure power.
I really tried my best to put the guys under pressure on the demanding race circuit. The pace was super high during the whole race, but in the end only 2 hours of racing were simply not enough for me to make a difference when battling riders who are used to race short distance races every week.
I gave it all I could, but in the end I had to be satisfied with the 3rd spot on the podium, behind the 2 strong riders Hem and Haegstad.
As I in the previous years already won this cool event 4 times, I am almost expected to come back next year to try and make it a 5th time.
In the upcoming weeks I will be racing the Luxembourgish national championship in cross country mountainbike (03.10.2020) in Brouch, Luxembourg. As defending champion I am really motivated to give it all to keep this title.
Sadly due to the covid restrictions around Europe most races in the marathon discipline have been cancelled. Also the Luxembourgish national championship in marathon MTB has been postponed to next year, which in the same time means that I will keep my title as reigning national champion until next year. As mentioned earlier on, I will be racing some cyclo-cross events I Luxembourg this winter.
