Winning the Hellenic Mountain Race

Interview with Christophe Dijkmans. Photos by Lloyd Wright who was following the race.

In May, the second edition of the Hellenic Mountain Race took place. Created by the team behind the Silk Road Mountain Race and Atlas Mountain Race, the race is an unsupported, 880-kilometre bikepacking race through the rugged mountains of Greece with over 27,000 metres of elevation.

Starting at the famous perched monasteries of Meteora and finishing in the picturesque town of Nafpaktos, it takes riders on a wild and remote journey across Greece. Hot sunshine to snow covered mountains - all sorts of weather is possible at this time of year, testing riders and their equipment.

This year Christophe Dijkmans won the race in an impressive time considering what he went through, to finish ahead of Marin de Saint-Exupéry and Sebastian Sarx. We caught up with Christophe on his experience a couple of weeks after the race.

Packing for two races and a wedding.

When I registered for the race at the end of 2023, it was clear it would be my main target of the year. Things changed though when a friend of mine announced he was going to get married two days before the start of the race, so I knew it wouldn’t be the best preparation! The wedding was in Zurich, and I live in Belgium. Earlier this year, the Lausanne Gravel team had asked me if I wanted to join them for their race, the Léman Gravel Challenge. Being just one week before the Hellenic Mountain Race, I initially refused their kind offer. With the wedding’s location though, I changed my mind and decided to accept the place and make it part of my journey. It was on the way to Zurich, so a good excuse to ride a beautiful route.

Leaving my home in mid-May packed up for a wedding and two races, I managed to ride Léman, attend the wedding and arrive safely in Greece in time to start the Hellenic Mountain Race. It was quite a stressful week, fitting it all in and the added logistics, but in the end everything went perfectly. I achieved what I set out to do, and won HMR.

Nothing ever goes to plan.

I don't tend to have a strategy as these kinds of courses are just too unpredictable. I did plan to have real sleep throughout the race though, so I brought my Bivy (a proper one, the Outdoor Research Helium), my mat, sleeping bag and a pillow. In the end though, I never opened the bag with my sleep system. The first night a thunderstorm meant I decided to stop early. I arrived in the town of Kípi and found a hotel at about 10pm. I decided it was a better idea to take some rest early on, instead of riding during the night with these shitty conditions (muddy, dark and rainy). I woke up after a few hours of sleep, and set off for the second day after cleaning my kit and starting the second day fresh.

On the second day though, I realised my rear brake pads were already dead so I stopped at the side of the trail to change them. Having prepared two bikes at home, the rush to be ready and leave my place by mid-May meant I took a perfectly packed bag of pads. However, I soon realised I took Magura spares instead of the SRAM compatible pads I needed for this bike. Realising my mistake, I was mentally down. I eventually succeeded in fitting the Magura ones on the caliper, and whilst it was not working perfectly, it allowed me to continue. By the end of the day, I joined Marin in second place in the race. In the last downhill to Metsovo while I was braking, the pads left the caliper and I only had the front one left as I made it to the town at about 9pm. After eating a pita with Marin in Metsovo, it was clear that I would have to stay in Metsovo for the night and wait until bike shops opened in the nearest main town (Ioánnina) the following day, 50km away. In the morning after the taxi-bikeshop-taxi-mechanic trip, I was ready to start the race again at 11.30am. After more than 13 hours off the bike, I was feeling fresh again.

Finishing strongly.

Despite the 13-hour break due to my pads, I never stopped believing that the race was still on for me. With over 500 km and 20,000m of elevation to go, everything still felt possible. I set myself a series of small goals to get back to the front of the race. Firstly, get back into the top five, then the top four. The top four would have completed the series for me, finishing fourth in all three of Nelson Trees' Mountain Races. But on the third night at 4am, just as I was preparing to get some sleep, Joachim Lindhardt told me that the leaders were just ahead, so I was unable to sleep.

After a pleasant breakfast with Joachim, I was ready to race again. Four hours later I joined Sebastian Sarx in the lead on a hike-a-bike stretch. At the end of the section, I took advantage of a steep climb to build a gap and test whether Sebastian still had enough energy to stay with me. I looked behind me as the climb twisted and turned. With no sight of him behind me, it was time for a solo ride for the last 250km. I kept up the effort and managed until I had enough of a lead. However, believing that Marin wasn't going to sleep, I only gave myself a 15-minute nap until the finish.

The head-to-head race with Marin was carried out at a distance and we saw very little of each other in reality. We never met again after that evening in Metsovo so at that point, it was really too far away from the finish line to start thinking about any ‘battle’ that may lie ahead. Due to the issue with my brakes, Marin said "see you at the finish" that evening, assuming I would finish after the front pack because of the pads issue.

I finished the race in 3 days and 21 hours with roughly 20 hours of stops, including the 13 hour break in Metsovo. Racing aside, I really loved this route and I highly recommend it to anyone who is hesitating over taking part in the future.

Packing for the race.

I took the previous edition as reference for my setup (snow, rain, etc). So I was definitely prepared for bad weather conditions. The masterpiece for me was my Zoa Rain Shell. Totally waterproof, windproof, it saved me. Similarly, the Ultralight Insulated Jacket for chilly conditions was essential. I also find ‘hiking’ shoes (Ergolace) are a good choice for Nelson’s races as the hike-a-bike will always play a part!

My light hardtail was also the right choice with the amount of elevation. The dropper seatpost was a pleasure to have with many perfect, but technical mountain bike stretches.

Reflections afterwards.

The biggest low out there? Realising I had brought the wrong pads. I felt totally stupid, but it didn’t end up defining the race.

The biggest high? When I reached my first target and made it back into the top five at CP2. It was about 6pm when I left at golden hour and experienced such a beautiful mountain area!

People ask me ‘why ultra?’ a lot. I come from a MTB Marathon background. I did my first bikepacking trip in 2019 to my friend's place in Zurich, and that was the start of my love for all things bikepacking. 2021 was my first year of racing and I became totally addicted to this way to travel and to race.

Next up, I am excited for the Colorado Trail Race. I love racing in Europe, and there are so many places to see (HT550, HMR, etc) but still, I long to ride in big scale environments. This is why the US events are on my bucket list. The Colorado Trail Race is more of an adventure than a race in my mind, but as I know Ulrich Bartholmoes will be there, he will be my target. After that, I’m undecided what else to race next!

Interested in what Chistophe and other riders wear for these events? Check out a curated list of products for Ultra Distance riding.