A Narrly New Champion

by John Hughes and Lisa Hesterberg

Ultracycling Cup Competition for ultra riders of the season

Simone Grosswiler and Andreas Mäder, president of Radmarathon Ch

Last year Simone Grosswiler from Regensdorf shattered the women's 24-hour drafting world record, racing 867.156 km at Schötz, and then broke the course record at the Swiss Radmarathon 600 km by nearly an hour. This year she won the Radmarathon 720 km RAAM qualifier in 29 hours 42 minutes, almost three hours faster than the course record.

L-R, back: Pius Achermann (2nd), Hape Narr (1st), Andreas Mäder, president of radmarathon.ch., Peter Holy (3rd).

In the men's race the German Peter Holy led Happ Narr through the first time station by only 12 seconds. Narr soon took the lead and did not surrender until the final time station in a record time of 23 hours and 27 minutes (section 30.6 km/h).

Holy had a five minute lead over Pius Achermann from Gunzwil at the first time station. He built that to a 15-minute lead; however, following a navigation error on the second lap through the Emmental, Achermann passed him and took second in 24:02 with Holy finishing in 24:20. Beny Furrer, who had set the course record of 24:14 last year, took fourth.

The first four men were all RAAM veterans. Furrer has only one arm because of an accident and, despite this handicap, he finished the RAAM in 2003. Achermann and Holy both dropped out of RAAM in 2004; Achermann finished solo RAAM in 2005. Narr raced on the four-man Swiss Team Schaffhausen in RAAM 2005. Schaffhausen took second, behind Beaver Creek-Vail and ahead of Kern Wheelmen / Advocare.

The Radmarathon Suisse is one of the founding members of the International Cycling Challenge, which unites six cycling marathon organisations. It is the aim of ICC to get more people interested in long distance cycling. A rider who completes three of the long-distance cycling events within two years receives a certificate.
More information

The sixth Swiss Cycling Marathon was held June 30 and July 1 in Wiedlisbach. The Radmarathon is sanctioned by the UMCA as a qualifier for the Race Across America and this year was designated as the European Ultracycling Championship, which was contested on the 720-kilometer RAAM qualifying course. Thirtyeight riders from nine countries raced in the European Championship — only 23 finished.

Nils Rykart finished in fifth place, 25:47 and was the first finisher not already qualified for RAAM. Nine men qualified for RAAM

Canadian Caroline van der Bulk who raced without a crew and qualified for RAAM!

Last year's women's winner Hana Ebertova from the Czech Republic and Caroline van der Bulk, from Canada, both qualified for RAAM. Van der Bulk tackled the endless course without a support crew and relying only on herself qualified for RAAM.

The Radmarathon includes four events:

• The 720 km RAAM Qualifier, which 35 riders started

• The 610 km Wiedlisbach-Bodensee-Berne, which is run in two divisions. 17 men started in the elite (drafting) field plus 115 randonneurs. Bruno Gorbach, Hanspeter Meier, and Christian Wirth won the 600 km in 20:29.

• The 300 km of Wiedlisbach, which drew 120 riders. While the 600-km riders profited from a strong tailwind on Sunday returning from Sargans, the participants in the 300 km were hampered by a stiff headwind on the way to Koblenz .

• 110 km fun tour Wiedlisbach-Berne-Wiedlisbach included 75 social riders who had time to enjoy the magnificent weather and the picturesque scenery between Wiedlisbach, Affoltern and Bern

In all, the 364 participants covered roughly 150,000 accident-free kilometers and consumed 2,500 portions of food and 3,000 liters of beverages.

In the last six years the Radmarathon has grown from 121 to 364 participants. Both the 300 kms and 600 kms routes are certified by the Audax Club Parisien as "Brevets de Randonneurs Mondiaux". In the years when Paris-Brest-Paris takes place, the Radmarathon organizes the complete brevet series for qualification. Further information: Radmarathon website

Results 720 km European Ultracycling Championship

Name	City	Country	Time	Status
Narr, Hape, 40	Thayngen	CH	23:27
Achermann, Pius, 43	Gunzwil	CH	24:02
Holy, Peter, 54	Lohnsfeld	D	24:20
Furrer, Beny, 50	Stalden	CH	25:38
Rykart, Nils, 28	Courtelary	CH	25:47	RAAM qualified
Ratschob, Thomas, 31	Siebnen	CH	25:48	RAAM qualified
Jakob, Martin, 39	Rothenburg	CH	26:02	RAAM qualified
Dengler, Andreas, 37	Gänserndorf	A	26:05	RAAM qualified
Büttgen, Andreas, 38	Elsdorf	D	26:29	RAAM qualified
Lang, Cosmas, 37	Mainz	D	28:25	RAAM qualified
Zama, Eris, 55	Gambettola /FC	I	28:29	RAAM qualified
Gänsler, Markus, 41	Großbettlingen	D	28:46	RAAM qualified
Deinhofer, Johann, 40	Neuhofen	A	29:16	RAAM qualified
Valsesia, Dario, 39	Borgomanero	I	31:21
Feuerberg, Frank, 44	Enneptal	D	31:46
Trotta, Roberto, 41	Susa (TO)	I	32:37
Grosswiler, Simone, 29	Regensdorf	CH	29:42	RAAM qualified
Ebertová, Hana, 36	Praha 4 Braník	CZ	32:21	RAAM qualified
Van den Bulk, Caroline, 39	Huntsville	CAN	33:37	RAAM qualified

Further information on the Swiss Cycling Marathon can be found at http://www.radmarathon.ch