In a beautiful Zofingen – the weather was great with just sunshine and an ever increasing temperature – Melanie Maurer and Matthieu Bourgeois have just won the World Championships Long Distance Duathlon.
The Long Distance Duathlon in Zofingen is known as one of the toughest duathlons in the world; athletes start with a 10km run, followed by a 150km bike and then another 30km run. The courses are not flat at all and are particularly challenging due to the altitude meters. In addition, major parts of the running course take place on off-road trails.
Unfortunately, the World Championships Long Distance Duathlon is never characterized by many participants and this year was no different. Nevertheless, the win was for Bourgeois, who crossed the finish line after 6:03:57. It was an exciting race though, because just 26 seconds later Fabian Holbach took the silver. At 1:17 minute behind the winner, Michael Ott claimed the third spot.
In the women’s race, the differences were considerably bigger. Maurer already took the lead in the race during the first run, but was joined on the bike by Lotte Claes. Both started the final run at the same time, but there Maurer proved too fast for her Belgian competitor. Maurer won the race in 6:47:49, 4:39 minutes before Claes finished second. Merie Brunnée was third at almost eleven minutes behind.
