Wednesday morning 12.00 local time Ramses Bekkenk started in Bloemfontein in ‘The Munga’ to finish today at 14:30 as winner in Wellington. The race with mainly headwind over 1070 kilometers through South Africa has to be ridden within five days and Bekkenk succeeded more than that with his record winning time of 50 hours and 30 minutes.
‘I have been looking forward to his race which is is just like Drenthe 200 a ‘semi-unsupported’ race. Illness just before the National Championships marathon seemed to spoil my party but luckily I recovered in time to prepare myself as good as possible for this race. In the end you are always confronted with hunger, cold, thirst and sleep at moments you can’t plan. Besides I was solo in the lead quite early in the race and that made it mentally hard as well without companionship. Luckiliy I had mental support from my mother Jolien along the route. Really proud to be winner of this race. ’, stated Bekkenk.
photo: Erik Vermeulen