A small but strong field lined up in Blomstermåla for the Swedish Gravel Championships. Racing a championship always brings an extra level of nerves and pressure, and doing it on home ground made it even more special.
Four laps, 148 km, plenty of corners and a technical 2 km singletrack section on every lap. We knew the race could unfold in many different ways, but we both wanted to race aggressively from the start.
On the first lap, we entered the singletrack together. Nathalie managed to create a gap and soon found herself riding solo at the front, while Maja settled into the chase behind.
From there, it became a long day of racing for both of us. Nathalie extended the gap lap by lap and eventually crossed the finish line first to defend the Swedish champion’s jersey. Maja followed to take silver and her first National Championship medal.
Standing on the podium together, at a championship raced close to home with our families and friends there to support us, made the day even more special.
A lot of nerves before the start, a lot of emotions during the race, and a huge amount of gratitude afterwards.
Thank you Blomstermåla and everyone who came out to cheer us on. 🇸🇪
Photo: Kevin Hempäla
