BIKE Festival Willingen 2026: Marathon - it went like clockwork

Text: Kirsten Ochs

12 degrees, the clouds of the night still hung sleepily over the turf on Saturday morning. There are more pleasant conditions for a marathon start line-up. But the weather forecast had promised a sunny day and so it turned out to be. In glorious sunshine, the marathon field circled around the foot of the Ettelsberg, then up and finally around it. In the end, all 700 starters crossed the finish line only slightly mud-splattered: from relaxed pleasure riders to ambitious amateur athletes to podium contenders - as always in Willingen, the paddock was hugely diverse.

Perfect conditions for the 27th Festival Marathon

There was a choice of the small lap (33.7 km / 830 metres of ascent), the medium lap (71.8 km / 1880 metres of ascent) and the long lap with a whopping 110 km / 2930 metres of ascent. The conditions for the marathon were surprisingly ideal after the rainy night of thunderstorms, with the riders only having to contend with slippery sections in places. "I like the new routes even better than the old ones," said Nina Hartleb from the Scott team, who had opted for the small loop. "Grippy, flowy, perfect conditions," she enthused. And that was also the general tenor after this race: Great routes, easy-going descents and only a few slightly slippery, bumpy sections.

While some riders were fighting for every second at the finish line and thus offered the spectators some excitement, others took it easy. Two brothers from the Netherlands started the race with their two sons and crossed the finish line together. "The fathers still have the better condition," was the conclusion of the young Dutchmen, who have been reviving this father-son tradition in Willingen for several years now.

The victory here tops everything - Aaron Wilhelmi

German rider Aaron Wilhelmi had completely different ambitions, crossing the finish line first in the long distance after 4:28 hours. The winner, who had only finished in 7th place last year, celebrated loudly. "It went like clockwork," he summarised. He had already made it onto the podium two years ago, "but winning here tops everything". Although he had to change his rear wheel during the race, he was already travelling alone with the bikes after the first mountain, which suited Wilhelmi perfectly, "so I could ride at my own pace". Teus Ruijters from the Netherlands crossed the finish line around four minutes behind. He also finished one place behind Wilhelmi in 2025. Third place was secured by Peter Hermann with a clear gap of around eight minutes to the first-placed rider.

There was no neck-and-neck race in the women's race either. With a lead of seven minutes (5:28 hours) Mariëlle Trouwborst (Netherlands) crossed the finish line first. "I really liked the course," she said. She rode in a group of men for a long time and finally finished well ahead of second-placed Lola Bakker, also from the Netherlands, who had also finished second on the podium in 2025. German mountain biker Carolin Zinn (5:49) was also able to defend her third place from the previous year.

All results of the BIKE Marathon can be found here: BIKE Festival Willingen - Race results | DKEVENTS