Mittelrhein & Rhein-Ruhr - same weekend 31/5-1/6

[Rick]

Anyone fancy a reiver oriented double header weekend? It's doable. Mittelrhein is on Saturday and Rhein-Rhur (Duisburg) is on Sunday.
We can pick up race packs in Duisberg on the Sunday morning just before the race so no panic there. Can either fly-drive to somewhere like Cologne-Bonn aiport with German Wings or just drive. They are only 170km apart so it's just couple of hours driving from Koblenz to Duisberg if we fly drive and since the airport is about half way between the two then it's just an hours drive either end. Not really interested in doing it solo but if we have club members doing Mittelrhein and others doing Duisburg then I might be convinced.

I'm not necessarily intending to do this but I seriously fancy racing Mittelrhein and then having a leisurely cruise for the other one if anyone else want to. Duisberg does go through some industrial areas but it also goes through quite a bit of parkland and it crosses three bridges (river Rhur once and Rhein twice)

It's the weekend before the Holland Highlights Tour 08 so it would be nice to get some mileage in for me. If anyone is thinking of the HHT then it could be a good warm up for you to. HHT is 50-80km/day for 5 days.

[Rick]

Just checked the timetable and we can also do it public transport as there are direct trains between the two locations which take 95 mins, in which case:

Sat: Fly RyanAir to Hahn and bus to Koblenz. or go friday night and stay at the airport like Ray, Helen and Glenn last year and bus into town in the morning. Register AM.

Race Mittelrhein (starts 6pm) then train to Duisberg about 9pm. Stay at the Ibis by the station in Duisburg.

Sun: Early bus in the morning to the park where the race starts/finishes and pick up race packs. Warm up. Race starts 8am. Bus back to station shower in hotel. Have a nice meal somewhere then bus to Weeze airport and RyanAir back to Stanstead.

I think I'd prefer to fly on the 20:30 on Friday night to get a good night's sleep as Saturday would be a shortish night. Catch the 20:35 back from Weeze.

[Rick]

I have now decided that I definately want to do this and have registered for Mittelrhein but as usual I need someone with a German bank account to register me for Duisburg. Bah-humbug when will they ever learn. Can even do it with a postal form at the moment, online with German account only. Seem to remember I can register on the day but it might put a bit of stress on my timetable since I registration desk only opens 2 hours before the race starts on Sunday and I'll still be in Koblenz when it closes on Saturday.

[merten]

PM me your dates, as usual

[Xia]

Rick, I'm a bit lazy to fish for dates, when is it?

[Natasha]

May 31 according to the events calendar.

[Rick]

[Rick]

Just booked my flights. Leaving Stanstead Friday 30th May at 20:30 to Hahn then Weeze 20:35 to Stanstead.

[Glenn]

Rick - sorry for the silly question - but how long is the Rhein-Rhur (Duisburg) race? Is it a marathon?

[andyman]

[merten]

[Ray]

I'm only skating the Mittelrhein (startnummer 5002) - we're driving from Strasbourg and will see you all in Koblenz.

[tanya g]

I'm in too - it is very cheap!!! less then £50 return.


From Düsseldorf (Weeze) (NRN) to London (Stansted) (STN)Regular Fare
Sun, Jun 01 Flight   3259
Depart Düsseldorf (Weeze) (NRN)      20:35
Arrive London (Stansted) (STN)      20:45


(Stansted) (STN) to Frankfurt (Hahn) (HHN)Regular Fare
Fri, May 30 Flight    764
Depart London (Stansted) (STN)      20:30
Arrive Frankfurt (Hahn) (HHN)      22:45

[Glenn]

I'm in too. Same flights as Tanya. I was a little iffy as the Mittelrhein only starts at 6.00 and thus not much time to rest - but if you guys can do it - I'll give it a go as well. Will be interesting, as it will be my first marathons for the year.

G