Lifestyle: Last Sunday, the opening event of the Rapha Super Cross took place in the Munich Olympic Park, it was also the first event of its kind in continental Europe. With the support of the city's most traditional cycling club - the RC "Die Schwalben" 1894 Munich - a cross-country festival was set up on the historic routes of the cyclocross world championships of 1985 and 1997, which is unique in Germany to date.
Petrus brought a beautiful autumn day to Munich, which attracted more than 2000 visitors to the Olympic Park to cheer on the racers with cowbells in what is probably Germany's largest cyclocross race. Special delicacies were the route through a beer tent, where the marching band Poing's Bunter Hauf'n blew the march for the drivers, a wall of foam and the notorious tequila shortcut.
There was also an exciting program off the track: Focus test bikes and Enve wheels with the new Challenge tires could be put through their paces at the “Schwalben” cross workshops on site. The Muc Off washing station helped the dusty bikes shine again, and in the beer tent you could enjoy the special atmosphere with fries, bratwurst and beer.
The youngsters formed the start of the race: almost 170 children and young people showed their skills on the legendary route as part of the MTB Isar Cup. After the sun had fought its way through the early autumn fog, the first cross race of the day for the women's elite, together with the Masters 2, 3 and 4, got down to business. With 40 starters it's already a large field, but only a foretaste of what should follow with the amateurs. With an unbelievable 173 registrations in the mixed field of amateurs, two qualifying runs were held first. In the final, the best 30 drivers competed to determine the day's victory among themselves. A total of seven nations were represented and from five-year-old cyclists to 60-year-old crosser veterans, all participants got their money's worth; only a broken collarbone was reported.
“Today was an unbelievable cross day in the Munich Olympic Park. Rapha put on an excellent event with a near perfect track, impressive entries across all categories and a huge crowd of enthusiastic spectators. This shows how healthy and growing amateur sport is in Germany. That should be a hint to all sports officials to pay more attention to this group of athletes than just the professional athletes. A big thank you to all the helpers and organizers who made this event possible. See you next year!" –Ken Bloomer
“In any case, the Rapha Super Cross is one thing: it's great fun. Foam on the track and tequila shortcuts may border on the tasteless, but anyone who has never thundered through a beer tent in a Crosser or tipped a shot of schnapps while Crossing is missing out. Anyone who still knows where to go after a shot with a heart rate of 180 is definitely calibrated for the Oktoberfest - and for any other feast away from the race track as well. Definitely try it, make a note of it for 2015!” –Robert Wolf
Photos: Sebastian Schels
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