For all non-german native speakers, I will provide now and prospective an English version of my blog. At least until I learned enough Dutch. Here it is:

Winter is just over and the first preparatory obstacle race was on the program - the Strong Viking Run Mud Edition in Nijmegen. In the past two years voted as Netherlands best obstacle course race, the expectations for the race were high. And they were fulfilled: lots of mud, obstacles that were hard to cope alone, beautiful scenery, challenging cross country running sections - even running directly through a cow house was part of the game.

This time my choice of shoes was unfortunately completely wrong, but in the end I was able to defeat the track at first, together with a nice Belgian named Thibault Debusschere. Instead of a complete Viking equipment as winning goody we recieved a nice shirt and are now officially "Hammer Bangers" - an allusion to an obstacle in which a jacked-up Log had to move a couple of feet by using a mallet, rsp. wooden hammer. Nice on top effect of the race: Officially checked off the qualifications for the OCR World Championships in October.

Apart from that, the preparation during winter term was mixed with good and less good results in cross country and indoor tracks - but, as always, things are settled in the summer and for this I feel very well prepared. In the next six weeks until the title defence of Fisherman's Friend Strongmanrun I will put a little work on the finishing touches, and then let the show begin!

Your Dr. Strongman Felix