Victory at HEAVY24 in Germany - Lukas Kaufmann

On Saturday at 12 o'clock, the starting gun finally fired for Germany's largest 24-hour mountain bike race – more than 3000 participants were there – divided into teams of 8, 6, 4, 2, and over 100 solo starters. The circuit was 9.6 kilometers long with approximately 150 meters of elevation gain. Along the route, there were no technically very difficult sections, but you still had to stay fully concentrated to avoid falling. The weather was super hot – thankfully, a large part of the course was in the forest. Every lap, Florian gave me a new water bottle, and I was thrilled that the new nutrition strategy worked so well again! I also saw Julian at various points and am already looking forward to his video. During the race, I had a tough battle with Jochen Böhringer – the later second-place finisher (56 laps) has already won several ultra-races around the world. I was all the happier when I crossed the finish line as the winner on Sunday after 58 laps, just after 12 o'clock! I had covered 556 kilometers and 8140 meters of elevation in 24 hours, which meant a new HEAVY24 course record – this race has been around since 2017.
 
Now there are two weekends without a race, then I will give my all again at the GRIESKIRCHNER 24H RADMARATHON, and a week later follows the SALZKAMMERGUT TROPHY – my annual personal highlight in the race calendar!

Photo: sportograf.com