Samui cross country 2

Over the recent weekend the Samui cross country 2 event for mountain biking was organized and held. We went and had a look on Sunday morning and enjoyed the atmosphere and activities.

Open category at the start line

The organizers of the Samui cross country 2 event has set up a very long track in Soi 1 in Maenam and it looked very well organized. Being a participant in many running races, I was positively surprised about the amount of participants. They seem to have come from all over the South of Thailand to participate. Respect!

Many handle bars were erected for participants to park their bikes before the action started

One of the things I couldn't really figure out is how the various categories were arranged. When we arrived there were riders all over the various parts of the track and for an outsider it was near impossible who was doing what, besides all participants making their rounds on the track.

A group of winners, although it was rather confusing to me how categories were determined

Come 11am, we saw the start of a various categories, starting with one minute intervals. Racing was intense and reminded me of my road racing days when I was aged 12-16 and participated in cycling road races. WE also saw plenty of (mini) crashes, but nothing serious. What I really liked was that almost all obstacles had an alternative route, you could bypass the obstacle by cycling around it, losing some time but staying out of danger.

The finish line

It was hot though, but we could easily find shaded parts to enjoy everything that was going on. I was gad I didn't have to participate and compete with an 11am start, it was too hot. With a morning 31km training run in my legs, participating was not an option anyway. Maybe next time I may join, just for fun.

There was a small but nice expo with plenty of bike related things for sale, including energy gels (from the GU brand), which is widely used in running

Congratulations to the organizers for what seemed to be a successful event and many more events to come for them. The locations seemed perfect, allowing for a long race track and easy parking nearby.

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Camille