On 16 June 2011, 36 000 visitors and many top riders – the 14th Sympatex BIKE Festival Willingen powered by Nissan ended after three amazing days. The Rocky Mountain BIKE Marathon powered by Vaude was bigger than in the last five years.
At the official opening of the festival on Saturday, Dr. Walter Lübcke, district president of North and East Hessen, complimented on the excellent organization of the des Sympatex BIKE Festivals powered by Nissan and the huge number of voluntary helpers: “I am very proud of the people of Willingen.”
Ole Zimmer, editor of the BIKE magazine mentioned the great conditions for mountain biking around Willingen and told the audience that he would rather ride here than suffer his way through the Alps. Many visitors of the festival took his advice and booked one of the three Milka fun tours straight away. Others preferred to make use of the first day to explore the huge exhibition ground with its 200 exhibitors and more than 400 brands.
The fist side-event of the festival was the Crema Cycles Short Track powered by Nissan on Saturday night. The country cross race, organized by the owner of Crema Cycles Ken Bloomer, celebrated a successful premiere on the 2-kilometre track. In the final, the riders had to manage five fast rounds of the circuit. The advantage was on in the hands of the cross-country and marathon specialists. Tibor Simai started very well and stayed ahead of the crowd for the first two rounds until Sascha Nehting overtook him and won the race. But Simai fought and came through the finishing line second, followed by Rene Hoerdemann.
For the 2 000 participants of the marathon the festival’s second day began early. At 7.30 Dirk Janz, representing the Rocky Mountain importer Bike Action, fired the starter’s gun. The riders had a choice of three circuits (52 km, 95 km, 122km). South African David Georg (Team 360Life) won the race on the 122-kilometre circuit taking 4:53.52,2 hours to finish it. Second was Markus Kaufmann (Team Centurion-Vaude), also a great mountain bike rider, with 4:55.26,8 hours. Kevin Evans from South Africa, who rides in the same team as David George (Team 360Life), was third with 4:59.43,2 hours. Katrin Schwing (Team TREK-DONATEK) was the fastest woman in the marathon. She finished the same distance in 5:48.55,0 hours. Closely behind her was Natascha Bender (D-Düsseldorf) who took 6:01.07,8 hours. Third was Barbara Kaltenhauser (Corratec World Team) with 6:02.31,8 hours.
On the short circuit Erik Zabel, Germany’s most successful racing cyclist, proved that he is also fast on a mountain bike. He finished after 2:16.44,0 and was the sixth best marathon rider in his age class.
Sunday night was the night of high jumps and tricks. 3 000 viewers watched as Timo Pritzel’s guests flew into the sky of Willingen. The bike acrobats made sure it was a spectacular show and performed great jumps over the track’s three hills, built by Markus Hampel and his crew. Two rounds and it was clear: Amir Kabbani, winner of Scott on Air 2009 and 2010, managed to impress the judges and leave his competitors behind once more. Second was Urs Reinosch, followed by Toby Wrobel.
Winner or not: After the second day of the festival everyone celebrated at the traditional Rider’s Party at the Brauhaus in Willingen.
The Specialized Enduro Ride powered by Shimano was super crowded on Monday morning. The event was fully booked with 150 riders. The men started in heats of 24 at the Ettelsberg. It was an exciting race up to the last minutes with Tibor Simai finishing first. Second in the Crema Cycles Short Track powered by Nissan, he managed to be a winner during the 14th Sympatex BIKE Festival in Willingen, followed by Marc Oppermann. Steffen Rick was third after Oppermann literally „flew“ past him.
The women’s final heat started with six riders. Fastest on the difficult track was Nadine Rieder. She also won the race on the short circuit of the Rocky Mountain BIKE Marathon powered by Vaude. Second was Karen Eller followed by marathon specialist Katrin Neumann.
The Scott Junior Trophy powered by Milka seemed to be a harder workout for some parents than for their kids. The 23 mini bikers (year of birth 2007/2008) often seemed to be too fast for the help of mum or dad, although that was still allowed in this class. 88 boys and girls started in the S8 class (year of birth 2003/2006), and 80 in S11 (year of birth 1998/1999). In S13 (year of birth 1996/1997) 35 young riders participated and in S15 18 talents tried to win the Scott Junior Trophy powered by Milka. Each girl and boy got a medal, great prizes by Scott and Milka and a lot of applause at the finishing line.
One highlight was the big final of the downhill race Milka Wheels of Speed powered by Shimano. Nine women and 41 men rode in the final for the title and the prize-money. Antje Kramer, several times German champion in downhill, won with a result of 2:07,92 minutes: “I am really happy! It was a great weekend for me in Willingen.“ Second best was US-American Gabriela Williams (2:18,37 minutes), third was Liz Schwemmer (2:26,75 minutes).
Very exciting until the very last second was the men’s final on the UCI world cup track at the Ettelsberg. For a long time it looked very good for Danish rider Mads Weidemann. His time: 1:56,20 minutes. But in the end Nico Antic suddenly overtook and became third, with a result of 1:55,99 minutes. Second fastest of the men was Maximilian Bender (1:54,81 minutes). Winner of the race was the last of the men to start. Andreas Sieber, fastest during the qualification was in a top condition and sped down in 1:54,30 minutes.
Having won the Milka Wheels of Speed powered by Shimano 2011 Sieber should be well prepared fort he German downhill championship in Bad Wildbad at the end of July, where he will ride against his competitor Marcus Klausmann. He was very impressed by the excellent organization of the festival in Willingen and the track’s good condition. Kevin Krug from Willingen was 31st and with 2:03,87 minutes.
Christian Stephan (Plan B), project manager of the 14th Sympatex BIKE Festivals Willingen: „Even if many of the international downhill pros could not be here this year, for there was a world cup race taking place in Leogang at the same time, it was a fantastic side-event.
There were many viewers along all the tracks and the finishing lines. The whole festival was a great success with 36 000 visitors in total. We are trying to get another world cup race to Willingen in 2010 and it does look promising.“ The exact date for the 15th Sympatex BIKE Festival Willingen powered by Nissan in June 2012 will be decided by the end of August.
Full results from the Marathon can be found on the Datasport site