South Defends Marathon Title, Weinbeer Shattered the Course Record

Casey South and Anna Weinbeer clinched the Swiss mountain bike marathon championship titles at the Raid Evolénard. While Andreas Seewald once again took the overall victory in the men’s long-distance race, Weinbeer clearly dominated the women’s race and set a new course record.

The Swiss Mountain Bike Marathon Championships concluded at the Raid Evolénard with the expected winners. On the 62-kilometer course, the men’s race unfolded as predicted, with a duel between last year’s German winner, Andreas Seewald, and defending champion Casey South. Seewald won the race for the fourth time, while South successfully defended his Swiss championship title by finishing second. Silver in the national standings went to Martin Fanger, and bronze, as in the previous year, to Andrin Beeli.

Right from the start, South, Fanger, and Fadri Barandun sought to make an early break. The Swiss trio pulled away, forcing the favorites behind them to react. The chasing group—comprising Seewald, Beeli, Frans Claes, and Marc Stutzmann—initially allowed the lead to grow to about one minute. Then Seewald picked up the pace. Beeli and Claes followed at a slight distance and also worked their way back closer.

On the first pass through Les Haudères, Seewald was just 30 seconds behind South and Fanger. Barandun trailed another 15 seconds behind. As in previous editions, the race was decided on the final climb to Béplan, the highest point of the course at 2,480 meters above sea level. There, Seewald demonstrated his strength and pulled decisively ahead. South crossed the finish line 93 seconds behind. Despite the oppressive heat, Seewald improved his own course record by three minutes and won in three hours, three minutes, and 45 seconds.

The battle for silver in the Swiss Championship remained exciting. Beeli found a better rhythm on the final climb and caught up to Fanger. The race was decided only in the sprint. Fanger narrowly prevailed to take silver, while Beeli won bronze.

In the women’s race, the outcome was decided earlier. Anna Weinbeer and Italy’s Claudia Peretti initially rode together at the front before the rider from Basel pulled away. Behind them followed Margot Moschetti, as well as the contenders for the national medals: Alessia Nay, Stefanie Zahno, and Chrystelle Baumann. Weinbeer reached Les Haudères with a lead of more than four minutes over Peretti. She continued to extend her lead all the way to the finish line and won convincingly.

Weinbeer thus claimed the Swiss championship title in mountain bike marathon for the first time. At the same time, she significantly improved the previous course record held by former world champion Esther Süss. Peretti finished second overall, and Moschetti rounded out the podium. In the Swiss standings, the silver medal went to Alessia Nay for the third consecutive time. Stefanie Zahno won bronze, even though she finished more than half an hour behind Weinbeer.

There was also a remarkable performance on the intermediate 35-kilometer course. Elodie Python won the race with the fastest time ever ridden on this course. In doing so, she broke the record set the previous year by her former teammate Dounia Challandes. This success confirms the young Swiss rider’s progress and points to an exciting rivalry among Switzerland’s up-and-coming talent.