Jenn O'Connor
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Sunday 12th August 2007
After the grand scenery and endless climbs of Oisans last year, the 2007 World Marathon Champs in
Verviers was a completely different race. Equally as tough, in fact arguably tougher than an alpine
marathon, Verviers was a course of endless mud, and rocky, slippery climbs. It was also my most disappointing race of the season so far, as I missed a marker on one of the forest descents and threw away 10 minutes and several places, after a strong start and four hours of racing. Andy and I met up with UK racers Jenny Copnall and Liz Scalia on the Friday before the race, and we had a truly international group with a Kiwi, three Brits, a Welshman (Jenny's partner Richard John) and a Sicilian (Liz's husband Mauro). We pre-rode the first part of the course on the Saturday
before the race, and Jenny and I especially were looking forward to racing on the rolling and technical forest singletrack. The various mud-caked bikes in the pits gave us a clue as to the state of the rest of the course, be we really didn't suspect what a total mudbath it would turn out to be.
Race day dawned clear and sunny, and we were up early for our 08:15am start. I got a good start
position on the second row, and the race started predictably fast, with the lead group breaking away up the first climb. Liz stayed with them easily, and Jenny and I chased them into the singletrack, where the field strung out, and I nipped around Liz and a couple of others, and caught the back of the lead group. From there the group concertinered through the tighter sections, and I could see Swedish rider Asa Erlandsson just ahead. I chased for the first two hours, with Asa appearing and disappearing from view, through to the second of five feedzones, when Jenny reappeared just behind me. We strung out again over the next long, dragging climb, and I again spotted Asa and a few others up the hill ahead of me. I was climbing strongly and closed up the gap, only to watch it open again on the next descent. My
glasses were clouded with sweat and I was struggling to see, and I knew Jenny would be closing up the gap behind me, flying through the technical stuff.
At feedzone three Andy handed me my spare glasses and I could see perfectly again, but that didn't stop me riding into a deep puddle and having to stop and climb out! Jenny caught me again soon after and we rode together briefly before I pushed ahead up another long, dragging climb and was able to ride at full effort down the following fast descent. I could hear a rider right behind me, and I assumed it was Jenny, but in fact the bulk of the men's field were now catching us and this was a Belgian who came flying past.
Jenny Copnall sprints for the line
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Race Team
By feedzone four we were four hours into the race and I knew it was going to be a long day. I
could see no-one in front or behind me, which made it harder to pick out the course, marked with
just small arrows and the occasional piece of tape. It was in the next section of forest singletrack
that it all went wrong for me - I was riding fast down through the forest, picking out the line ahead
when I came out on a tarmac road, with no markers and no marshals in sight. My heart sank, as I
knew that I'd taken a wrong turn, and that I would now have to ride back up that long descent to
try and find the course again. I turned and attacked the hill as hard as I could, and managed to
climb it cleanly but it took me several minutes before I saw tape again, and riders going past. I'd
lost about 10 minutes and several places, but I was determined to chase them down and at least try
to make up some of the lost time.
I quickly caught a French woman, and a South African on the next climb, and I was sure I had at
least an hour of racing left. However I discovered quickly that increasing the pace after four hours
of hard racing is just not that simple, and my legs were cramping. By the fifth and final feedzone I
was gagging for a drink, and I knew it was going to be a six-hour race. There was no sign of Jenny
and I knew she would be somewhere up ahead, unaware of my predicament and still trying to
chase me down.
The final 5km into town was a bit of a circus, with random cobbled climbs thrown in, and even a set
of steps we had to run down in a cyclocross style, which was exactly what my cramping legs didn't
need! I made it into the finish arena in 21st place - 6hrs 11mins, six minutes and three places
behind Jenny in 18th place, and another six minutes ahead of Liz in 25th place. I was happy that I
had at least finished, and hadn't lost too much out of my mishap. My Kiwi team mates Kashi Leuchs
and Justin Price both DNFed, Kashi with a bad bout of asthma and Justin after cracking his face on
a rock, needing several stitches. Out of the 52 starters in our women's field, seven did not finish, as
the harsh Belgian rocks and mud took their toll on both riders and bikes.
Christoph Sauser (Switzerland) took the men's title from defending champion Ralf Naf (Switzerland),
who DNFed, and Petra Henzi (Switzerland) took the women's title just two minutes ahead of Sabine
Spitz (Germany).
Jenn
Nelli
