I was registered for the third time, but whether or not I would compete there for the first time still remained to be seen... (the last two times I was "suddenly" pregnant ;-) and then the year after I was totally stressed out with the baby), because the rear brake was hardly budging, after I I got the bike out of the trunk.
Luckily, our master mechanic Jürgen was with us and after a lot of swearing and some choking it worked fine again.

I stood in the starter block with conflicting emotions, since the Bilstein Marathon was famous for its tough ascents and crazy descents.... and that's how it was..... the short lap was enough to finish me off - most of the track went up and down over steep, root infested single trails - very seldomely could one regenerate oneself on a wide gravely road, but oh well, who has to regenerate oneself on 15.5m/25km anyway. There will be enough time for that after one crosses the finish line.

So, I worked on keeping going and finishing in 1:30h - which actually worked and I even ended up at the top of the podium.

Unfortunately, I was alone, because nobody knew when the award ceremony was going to take place. I missed it by 15min myself, but they still called me up and I was able to accept the trophy.
My combatants had left by then.
Greetings,
Claudia