The mountain bike marathon race ”Blue Lagoon Race” which took place in June in Iceland was won by Sören Nissen in a new record time. The Danish National Marathon Champion reached the finish with the fastest time ever of 1:39:47 hours on his STEVENS Sonora 2.0 SL.
Three and a half minutes earlier than next placed, Ingvár Ómarsson and Louis Wolf. The women’s race was won by María Ögn Guðmundsdóttir. All in all 584 male and female riders finished the race. The race ran along 60km (37.3mls) and 600 vertical meters (196ft) through an amazing volcano landscape around the Blue Lagoon, an open-air hot spring near Reykjavik.
”The landscape reminded me of a black desert. The loose gravel and rocky surface made the race really tough to ride”, Nissen said. He had attacked after 15km and gained an steadily increasing lead.
After the first half of the race through a black sand desert the course went along the coast line. ”There, I had to fight storm-like winds, but in the end I crossed the finish line first”, Nissen said.
Just a s special as the landscape was the award ceremony: ”600 people in their bathing suits were attending”, Nissen said about the award ceremony at the hot spring resort.
Here also a very unusual after race party took place, including a bar right inside the pool. Nissen: ”The race was a one-of-a-kind experience. I’ve never done anything like this ever before.”
