The 8th edition of the MTB Race was held in the woods of Haltern Flaesheim were unscathed by Hurricane Christof, which devastated many forests in North Rhine-Westphalia on the Whitsun weekend.Werner Schulze-Lünzum und Klaus Hülsmann created a demanding track around the infamous Dachsberg showing a lot of breathtaking sections.

Right from the start both german top drivers, Ben Zwiehoff (Bergamont Hayes Factory Team) and Markus Schulte-Lünzum (Focus XC Team) took the lead. From lap to lap, the gap between both of them and the remaining competitors increased. Both fought head to head. Right at then end, the local hero Markus Schulte-Lünzum took the better end in the finishing sprint and ended up first. Ben Zweihoff took comfort in beeing NRW champion U23. Gerrit Rosenkranz (Focus Rapiro Racing) finished in third place in front of Erik Gron (Team Bar End).

In the womens race, Nina Wrobel was able to to prove her strength against strong dutch competition. She won her first race for her new team Merida Schulte ahead of Annemarie Worst (Team Giant) and Annefleur Kalvenhaar (UCI MTB FOCUS CX TEAM)

The first race of the XCO NRW Cup took place during the Abus Bike Festival at the Harkort Tower in the town of Wetter. On the steep hills of the Ruhr valley, the cross country track was revealled demands for power and condition as well as for technical skills.

Soon the race showed a tough duell between Ben Zwiehoff (Bergamont Hayes Factory Team) and  Marcus Schulte-Lünzum (Focus XC Team)  who battled head to head until the end. Samuel Rosenkranz (Focus Rapiro Racing Team) claimed the last place on the podium.

More pictures to be found here

For a long time mountain bike and cross country did not make their way into my agenda. But it happened that I had some spare time on this easter weekend, and Olaf Nützsche invited me to the race in Bad Salzdeturth. I did know the location, since I have been ther for the cyclocross race two years aho, and I could imagine that the terrain could be worth visiting. Olaf and his friends from the  Rapiro Racing Team produced an interesting parcours in the bike park, which offered a lot of good locations for taking photos