“I thought that this year, it was time to try something new”, says multiple Danish Champion Sören Nissen about his “business trip” to Costa Rica. He had been invited by the organizers of the marathon “160 Rincon de la Vieja” to participate in this tough challenge.
As the name suggests, the marathon leads 160 km around the active volcano Rincon. This is in itself a challenge that got even greater due to the strong competition: “I was told before that the level would be very high”, said Nissen.
A prognosis that proved to be true immediately after the starting gun went off at 5:30 am: “The field went off full speed. At the beginning I only thought ‘What the hell am I doing here’”, the Danish marathon expert recounts. He at first focused on staying within the top 20 that swept over single trails and through the rain forest with breathtaking speed.
When the speed was still relentlessly high one hour into the race, Sören Nissen slowed down as he knew that he would not be able to keep this pace for more than six hours that the marathon would take. A plan that worked: After another hour, he caught the head of the field again. 90 km into the race, he took the lead himself and did not let go of it until he reached the finish line.
After 6:27 hours, he finished his first race in Central America as the winner: “After some difficult weeks with many technical problems in races, I am really happy to be on track again”, Nissen enthused after the race.
He’s now hoping to recover quickly from his oversea trip in order to be fit for the Danish Championship in September.