\u201cI think the Dutch record may be up for grabs.\u201d Menno Koolhaas says it quietly, without any kind of arrogance or self-bravado. He says it primarily as a lover of the sport and knowing that next week, on Sept. 9, he may be the biggest favorite for the overall victory at Challenge Almere-Amsterdam. \u201cI want to belong to the world\u2019s best athletes and a finish time of 7:45 at least is needed for that. If you don\u2019t make times like that, you\u2019ll soon know where you stand.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a time of 7:45, Koolhaas would in any case pulverize the Dutch record: in 2021, Evert Scheltinga already sharpened that time in Almere to a fantastic 7:49:33, and so Koolhaas hopes to take quite a bit off that. \u201cI have the ambition, but in Almere it\u2019s always a question of how the weather conditions are. On a favorable day, with fast bike times, then I hope to get off the bike after about five hours. I have done a Long Distance twice and was able to run very fast twice. I dare say I might run a little harder this year, so a finish time of 7:45 is possible. Anyway, I can talk about it now, but in the end it still needs to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I just feel the pressure I put on myself\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s quite something; Koolhaas is racing his third Long Distance and his first one in the Netherlands. Immediately he is seen as a favorite for the race. \u201cBut I don\u2019t feel any pressure. The only pressure I feel is the pressure I put on myself. The pressure of wanting to go for the win. At the same time, I also realize that I have yet to see what the combination of focusing on Middle Distance and Long Distance is going to be like,\u201d he looks back on a year in which he indeed competed in both long and middle distance races. Just last weekend he raced in Lahti, where he achieved an impressive tenth place, despite a disappointing performance on the bike. \u201cBut now the biggest question is how the combination between racing MD and LD will work out.\u201d<\/p>\n No matter what, Koolhaas is going to enjoy to race in Almere. \u201cWhen you\u2019re racing in The Netherlands, you see a lot more acquaintances along the course. More friends and family coming to watch: of course that gives a boost. I\u2019m really looking forward to race here and Challenge Almere-Amsterdam is going to be a wonderful party. I\u2019ve put my focus a bit more on Challenge races anyway and Almere shouldn\u2019t be missing then.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s either going fantastic, or totally wrong\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Koolhaas will go all-in for victory, but is obviously taking the competition into account. He expects a lot from former Challenge Almere-Amsterdam winner Matt Trautman and also from defending champion Kieran Lindars, but actually even more from rookie Tom Bishop. The Brit is on the eve of his first Long Distance. \u201cHe is really very strong, but of course it can go two ways. Either it goes great and everything works out, from a certain open-mindedness of a first race, or it goes grandly wrong because he still has important things to learn. In any case, I expect him to compete at the front for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n Koolhaas is expected to come out of the water as the first or second athlete, together with the always strong swimming Lukas Wojt. Then the tricky part begins for the Dutchman. \u201cOn the bike, I must not destroy myself and I hope I don\u2019t lose too much time. I have two very strong parts \u2013 the swim and the run \u2013 and if I also manage to improve the cycling, so that I can stay with it at decisive moments, then I would really be a complete athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cI think the Dutch record may be up for grabs.\u201d Menno Koolhaas says it quietly, without any kind of arrogance or self-bravado. He says it primarily as a lover of the sport and knowing that next week, on Sept. 9, he may be the biggest favorite for the overall victory at Challenge Almere-Amsterdam. \u201cI want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":19538,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[53,158],"class_list":["post-19537","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-challenge-almere-amsterdam","tag-menno-koolhaas"],"yoast_head":"\n